She must show him some of her work. Was that chain (taking it familiarly in his hands to look at it) her own handiwork? Oh, no; that was a Lalique ... the chief artist in this _genre_ in Paris. (The banker mentally accounted for some of the recent drafts.) Didn't he think it pretty?--such an unusual arrangement of the stones! He should not call it exactly pretty--odd rather;--but it was very becoming to her.... He should like to see some of her own work, etc. Oh, she should never dare to show him anything she had done. She was nothing but a beginner, etc., etc. Later on, as they entered the dark precincts of the city, another step nearer the personal was taken. She would want to spend another year in Europe probably? Oh, yes, they had the loveliest plans. Miss Comstock was going to take her and Eveline Glynn on a visit to some friends who had an estate in Poland, in the mountains, a real castle, etc. (Mental note by the banker--"Must look up this Comstock woman--seems to have a good deal of influence upon the girl.") And then they were all going to Italy again in the spring and perhaps Greece, though everybody said that was too hard on account of the poor hotels. And she did want to go up the Nile and see the Sphynx and all the rest of it, etc., etc. (Pause). Had she any idea what she would like to do afterwards, where she wanted to live? When? Why, after she had finished her education. Oh, she wanted to go on making pretty things--she should have a studio of her own, of course, like Miss Baxter. "Where?" "Why in Paris,--perhaps New York," Adelle replied vaguely, indifferently. That gave Mr. Crane an opportunity for an improving homily on the folly of expatriation, the beauty of living in one's own country among one's own people, and so forth, which brought them to the door of Adelle's hotel. Mr. Crane came in and met Miss Comstock and the girls she had with her. Then he disappeared and returned later in full dress and took the party to the Carlton for dinner and then to a light opera. The girls were entranced with Mr. Crane, especially the two Californians, and redoubled their envy of the fortunate Adelle in having this handsome substitute for a parent. They called him her "beau," by which designation Mr. Ashly Crane was henceforth known among Pussy Comstock's girls during their sojourn in London.