"Of course, Bertie's awfully useful. A tame cat--and he's a well-trained one--is a handy thing to have about you, especially up here. You need someone to take you to races and gymkhanas and to fill up blanks on your programme at dances, as well as getting your ricksha or _dandy_ for you when they're over." Noreen laughed, amused at the frankness of the statement. "And where is the redoubtable Captain Bain, dear?" "You'll see him soon. I let him off today until it's time for him to call to take us to the Amusement Club. He was anxious to see you. He wanted to come with me to the station, but I said he'd only be in the way. I knew Miguel would be much more useful in getting your luggage. Bertie's so slow. Still, he's rather a dear. Remember, he's my property. You mustn't poach." Noreen laughed again and said: "If he admires you, dear, I'm sure no one could take him from you." "My dear girl, you never can trust any man," said her friend seriously. Then, glancing at herself in the mirror, she continued modestly: "I know I'm not bad-looking, and lots of men do admire me. Bertie says I'm a ripper." She certainly was decidedly pretty, though of a type of beauty that would fade early. Vain and empty-headed, she was, nevertheless, popular with the class of men who are content with a shallow, silly woman with whom it is easy to flirt. They described her as "good fun and not a bit strait-laced." Noreen knew nothing of this side of her friend, for she had not seen her since her marriage, and honestly thought her beautiful and fascinating. Ida picked up her hat and parasol and said: "Now I'll leave you to get straight, darling child, and come back to you later on." She looked into the glass again and went on: "It's so nice to have you here. A woman alone is rather out of it, especially if she comes from the other side of India and doesn't know Calcutta people. Now it'll be all right when there are two of us. The cats can't say horrid things about me and Bertie--though it's only the old frumps that can't get a man who do. I _am_ glad you've come. We'll have such fun." * * * * * Captain Bain, a dapper little man, designed by Nature to be the "tame cat" of some married woman, was punctual when the time came to take the two ladies to the Amusement Club. Noreen had very dubiously donned her smartest frock which, having just been taken out of a trunk after a long journey, seemed very crushed, creased, and dowdy compared with the freshness and daintiness of Ida's _toilette._ Men as a rule understand nothing of the agonies endured by a woman who must face the unfriendly stares of other women in a gown that she feels will invite pitiless criticism.