I would ask you, however, to consider my appearance I have been obliged to conclude the last few miles of my journey in somewhat ignominious fashion.

My clothes--they were quite nice clothes, too, when I started," he added, looking down at himself ruefully--"have suffered.

And, as you perceive, I have lost my hat." "Your hat ?" Helen exclaimed, with a sudden glance at Nora's trophy.
"Precisely! I might have posed before your butler, perhaps, as belonging to what you call the hatless brigade, but the mud upon my clothes, and these unfortunate rents in my garments, would have necessitated an explanation which I thought better avoided.

I make myself quite clear, I trust ?" "Clear ?" Philippa murmured helplessly.
"Clear ?" Helen echoed, with a puzzled frown.
"I mean, of course," their visitor explained, "so far as regards my choosing this somewhat surreptitious form of entrance into your house." Philippa shrugged her shoulders and made a determined move towards the bell.

The intruder, however, barred her way.