They passed through the gardens of the Hotel de Paris, and Hunterleys, keeping to the left, met them upon the Terrace as they emerged.

As they came near he accosted them.
"Violet," he began.
She started.
"I beg your pardon," she said.

"I did not recognise you." "Haven't you been told," he asked stiffly, "that the Terrace is unsafe for women after twilight ?" "Very often," she assented, with that little smile at the corners of her lips which once he had found so charming and which now half maddened him.

"Unfortunately, I have a propensity for doing things which are dangerous.

Besides, I have my maid." "Another woman is no protection," he declared.
"Susanne can shriek," Lady Hunterleys assured him.