Anna the Adventuress

"Then we must try and make London endurable for you," he remarked

cheerfully. "What night will you dine and go to the theatre with

me?--and how about Hurlingham on Saturday?"

Anna shook her head.

"Thank you," she said coolly. "Those things are not for me just at

present."

He was obviously puzzled. Anna sighed as she reflected that her sister

had simply revelled in her indiscretions.

"Come," he said, "you can't be meaning to bury yourself. There must be

something we can do. What do you say to Brighton----"

Anna looked at him quietly--and he never finished his sentence.

"May I ask whether you are staying with friends in town?" he inquired

deferentially. "Perhaps your engagements are made for you."

"I am staying," she answered coolly, "at a small boarding-house near

Russell Square."

He dropped his eye-glass with a clatter.

"At a boarding-house?" he gasped.

She nodded.

"Yes. I am an independent sort of person," she continued, "and I am

engaged in an attempt to earn my own living. You don't happen to know

of any one, I suppose, who wants a nursery governess, or a

clerk--without shorthand--or a tryer-on, or a copyist, or----"

"For Heaven's sake stop, Miss Pellissier," he interrupted. "What a

hideous repertoire! If you are in earnest about wanting to earn money,

why on earth don't you accept an engagement here?"

"An engagement?" she queried.

"On the stage? Yes. You would not have the slightest difficulty."

She laughed softly to herself.

"Do you know," she confessed, "I never thought of that?"

He looked at her as though doubting even now whether she could

possibly be in earnest.

"I cannot conceive," he said, "how any other occupation could ever

have occurred to you. You do not need me to remind you of your success

at Paris. The papers are continually wondering what has become of

'Alcide.' Your name alone would fill any music hall in London."

Again that curious smile which puzzled him so much parted her lips for

a moment.

"Dear me," she said, "I fancy you exaggerate my fame. I can't imagine

Londoners--particularly interested in me."

He shrugged his shoulders. Even now he was not at all sure that she

was not playing with him. There were so many things about her which he

could not understand. She began to draw on her gloves thoughtfully.

"I am very much obliged for the tea," she said. "This is a charming

place, and I have enjoyed the rest."

"It was a delightful piece of good fortune that I should have met

you," he answered. "I hope that whatever your plans may be, you will

give me the opportunity of seeing something of you now and then."

"I am afraid," she said, preceding him down the narrow stairs, "that I

am going to be too busy to have much time for gadding about. However,

I daresay that we shall come across one another before long."