'Very well; remember it's the Mews--more's the pity! You don't sit so well as _us_!' Miss Geraldine pursued, looking at the Colonel. 'If _you_ should require me, sir----' 'You put him out; you embarrass him,' said Lyon. 'Embarrass him, oh gracious!' the visitor cried, with a laugh which diffused a fragrance. 'Perhaps _you_ send postcards, eh?' she went on to the Colonel; and then she retreated with a wavering step. She passed out into the garden as she had come. 'How very dreadful--she's drunk!' said Lyon. He was painting hard, but he looked up, checking himself: Miss Geraldine, in the open doorway, had thrust back her head. 'Yes, I do hate it--that sort of thing!' she cried with an explosion of mirth which confirmed Lyon's declaration. And then she disappeared. 'What sort of thing--what does she mean?' the Colonel asked. 'Oh, my painting you, when I might be painting her.' 'And have you ever painted her?' 'Never in the world; I have never seen her. She is quite mistaken.' The Colonel was silent a moment; then he remarked, 'She was very pretty--ten years ago.' 'I daresay, but she's quite ruined. For me the least drop too much spoils them; I shouldn't care for her at all.' 'My dear fellow, she's not a model,' said the Colonel, laughing. 'To-day, no doubt, she's not worthy of the name; but she has been one.' '_Jamais de la vie!_ That's all a pretext.' 'A pretext?' Lyon pricked up his ears--he began to wonder what was coming now. 'She didn't want you--she wanted me.' 'I noticed she paid you some attention. What does she want of you?' 'Oh, to do me an ill turn. She hates me--lots of women do. She's watching me--she follows me.' Lyon leaned back in his chair--he didn't believe a word of this. He was all the more delighted with it and with the Colonel's bright, candid manner. The story had bloomed, fragrant, on the spot. 'My dear Colonel!' he murmured, with friendly interest and commiseration. 'I was annoyed when she came in--but I wasn't startled,' his sitter continued. 'You concealed it very well, if you were.' 'Ah, when one has been through what I have! To-day however I confess I was half prepared. I have seen her hanging about--she knows my movements. She was near my house this morning--she must have followed me.' 'But who is she then--with such a _toupet_?'