As she said this she stepped behind the counter, evidently thinking that Quincy would accept the rebuff and depart. Instead of doing this he took a step forward, which brought him between Hortense and the door of the boudoir. Turning to the girl he said in a low tone, "There must be some mistake. I have never met Mademoiselle Archimbault. I will go in and explain the purpose of my visit." And before Hortense could prevent him, Quincy had entered the boudoir and closed the door behind him. In the centre of the room stood a beautifully carved and inlaid table. Before it sat an elegantly-dressed woman, whose hair, artistically arranged, was of the darkest shade of brown--almost black. Her arms were crossed upon the table, her face was buried in them, and from her came a succession of convulsive sobs, that indicated she was in great physical or mental distress. Quincy felt that she knew he was there, but he did not speak. Finally she said, and there was a tone of deep suffering in her voice: "Oh! Algernon, why have you followed me? I can never, never marry you. If it had been possible I would have met you that evening, as I promised." The thought flashed across Quincy's mind, "This is the girl that ran away from Lord Hastings. But why did she call me Algernon?" Then he spoke for the first time. "Mademoiselle, there is some misunderstanding; my name is not Algernon. I am not Lord Hastings." As he spoke he looked at the woman seated at the table. She looked up; there was an instantaneous, mutual recognition. In her astonishment she cried out, "Mr. Sawyer!" As these words fell from her lips, Quincy said to himself, "Thank God! she's found at last." But the only words that he spoke aloud were, "Lindy Putnam!" "Why do I find you here," asked Quincy, "and under this name? Why have you not answered my advertisements in the 'Herald?'" And he sank into a chair on the other side of the little table. The revulsion of feeling was so great at his double discovery that he came nearer being unmanned than ever before in his life. "How did you come by this card!" asked Mademoiselle Archimbault in a broken voice. "When you have explained, I will answer your questions." Quincy took the card from her hand and glanced at it. "What a big blunder I made and yet what a fortunate one," cried he, for he now saw that he had sent in Lord Hastings's card bearing the London address. "Lord Hastings himself gave it to me," he continued. "He was a guest at my father's cottage at Nahant last summer. He came to America and spent three months vainly searching for you. He loves you devotedly, and made me promise that if I ever found you I would cable at once to the address on that card, and he said he would come to America on the next steamer. Of course when I made that promise I did not know that Lindy Putnam and Celeste Archimbault were one and the same person."