She hadn’t been in the dining-room before, and she stopped, profoundly impressed, in the doorway. It was so exactly the dining-room she had expected--the grand, stately dining-room of the cinema drama, with paneled walls and sideboard loaded with plate, the opulently set table, the high-backed chairs, the flowers all about, the very air of dignity and richness. There was the essential butler, too. She felt sure that the man bending over the sideboard was a butler; busy, no doubt, with work about which she was quite ignorant. She drew near to ask him the time, and was surprised to see him stuffing cigars into his pocket from three or four boxes that lay in a drawer. She didn’t know whether this was proper, whether it was part of a butler’s proper functions; but when she saw the man’s face, and observed his stealthy and hurried manner, she grew certain that he was stealing. One of those society thieves of whom she had read! He was in evening dress, and he had some sort of perfume about him. He was a slender little man with neat, snow-white hair and a dapper white mustache. His face was bland, with a long upper lip that gave it a humorous look, and intelligent blue eyes. He turned suddenly and saw her. "Well!" he cried. "Upon my word! And who are _you_?" "That’s my business," said Angelica. This was her idea of a non-committal answer. She could not decide whether he was a servant, a member of the family, or merely an outside thief who had dropped in, and she was anxious to make no avoidable mistakes. "Of course it is!" he replied, cheerfully. "No doubt I’ll learn in the course of time. But perhaps you’ll enlighten me as to your status?" She didn’t understand him, and she scowled. "Perhaps you’ll tell me what you’re doing here?" he inquired. "Well, what are _you_ doing here?" she returned. "Waiting," he answered imperturbably. "Waiting for dinner and Mr. Eddie." "Oh, him! Well, he’s in. I saw him up-stairs." "But do, for pity’s sake, tell me who you are! We don’t take pretty girls wandering about this house as a matter of course. You’re quite a startling vision, you know." She didn’t like his airy gallantry; but she was sure now that he wasn’t an outside thief or a servant, and that he must therefore be a member of the family, entitled to answers for questions. "I’m _her_ companion," she said. "Aha! And what is your name, if you please?" "It’s Kennedy." "Oh! Scotch, are you? You don’t look Scotch. You look like a French girl, I should say--one of these dark, passionate creatures...." "All right!" she interrupted, scowling more heavily. "That’ll do about me. What’s the time?" He pulled out his watch. "Six-thirty. Do you dine with us, Miss Kennedy? I hope so. I feel----” Just then Eddie came in, also in a dinner-jacket and incredibly neat--the very model of a correct young man. He bowed ceremoniously, if somewhat severely, to Angelica. "Good evening, doctor!" he said to the white-haired man.