Pro and con we argued what the probable event might be and how we could best meet it. So intent upon our discussion did we become that we did not note the approach of a stranger until he was within a few paces of the bench. With my crippled vision I apprehended him only as very tall and straight and wearing a loose cape. The effect upon the Bonnie Lassie of his approach was surprising. I heard her give a little gasp. She got up from the bench. Her hand fell upon my shoulder. It was trembling. Where, I wondered, had those two met and in what circumstances, that the mere sight of the stranger caused such emotion in the unusually self-controlled wife of Cyrus Staten. The man spoke quickly in a deep and curiously melancholy voice: "Madame perhaps does me the honor to remember me?" "I--I--I--" began the Bonnie Lassie. "The Comte de Tournon. At Trouville we met, was it not? Several years since?" "Y-yes. Certainly. At Trouville." (Now I happen to know that the Bonnie Lassie has never been at Trouville, which did not assuage my suspicions.) "You are friends of my--countryman, Emile Garin, are you not?" he pursued in his phraseology of extreme precision, with only the faint echo of an accent. "Who?" I said. "Oh, Plooie, you mean. Friends? Well, acquaintances would be more accurate." "He tells me that you, Monsieur, befriended him when he had great need of friends. And you, Madame, always. So I have come to thank you." "You are interested in Plooie?" I asked. "Plooie?" he repeated doubtfully. I explained to him and he laughed gently. "Profoundly interested," he said. "I have here one of his finest umbrellas which his good wife presented to me. There was also a lady of whom he speaks, a _grande dame_, of very great authority." For all the sadness of the deep voice, I felt that his eyes were twinkling. "Madame Tallafferr," supplied the Bonnie Lassie. "She is away on a visit." "I should like to have met that queller of mobs. She ought to be knighted." "Knighthood would add nothing to her status," said I, dryly. "She is a Pinckney and a Pemberton besides being a Tallafferr, with two _f_s, two _l_s, and two _r_s." "Doubtless. I do not comprehend the details of your American orders of merit," said the big sad-voiced man courteously. "But I should have been proud to meet her." "May I tell her that?" asked the Bonnie Lassie eagerly. "By all means--when I am gone." Again I felt the smile that must be in the eyes. "But there were others here, not so friendly to the little Garin. That is true, is it not?" "Yes," said the Bonnie Lassie. "There is at least a strong suspicion that he is not a deserving case," I pointed out defensively. "Then it is only because he does not explain himself well," returned the Belgian quickly. "He does not explain himself at all," I corrected. "Nor does Annie Oom--his wife."