I often tell him that." Mrs.Horncastle smiled faintly.

"Come, quick, then," she said, "for he may come HERE first." Opening the door she passed into the half-dark and empty hall.

"Now run!" She heard the quick rustle of Mrs.Barker's skirt die away in the distance, the opening and shutting of a door--silence--and then turned back into her own room.
She was none too soon.

Presently she heard Barker's voice saying, "Thank you, I can find the way," his still buoyant step on the staircase, and then saw his brown curls rising above the railing.

The light streaming through the open door of the sitting room into the half-lit hall had partially dazzled him, and, already bewildered, he was still more dazzled at the unexpected apparition of the smiling face and bright eyes of Mrs.Horncastle standing in the doorway.
"You have fairly caught us," she said, with charming composure; "but I had half a mind to let you wander round the hotel a little longer.