Warburton rushed into the noisy, gorgeous lobby, and wandered about till he espied the desk. Here he turned over his luggage checks to the clerk and said that these accessories of travel must be in his room before eight o'clock that night, or there would be trouble. It was now half after five. The clerk eagerly scanned the register. Warburton, Robert Warburton; it was not a name with which _he_ was familiar. A thin film of icy hauteur spread over his face. "Very well, sir. Do you wish a bath with your room?" "Certainly." Warburton glanced at his watch again. "The price--" "Hang the price! A room, a room with a bath--that's what I want. Have you got it?" This was said with a deal of real impatience and a hauteur that overtopped the clerk's. The film of ice melted into a gracious smile. Some new millionaire from Pittsburg, thought the clerk. He swung the book around. "You have forgotten your place of residence, sir," he said. "Place of residence!" Warburton looked at the clerk in blank astonishment. Place of residence? Why, heaven help him, he had none, none! For the first time since he left the Army the knowledge came home to him, and it struck rather deep. He caught up the pen, poised it an indecisive moment, then hastily scribbled Paris: as well Paris as anywhere. Then he took out his wallet, comfortably packed with English and French bank-notes, and a second wave of astonishment rolled over him. Altogether, it was a rare good chance that he ever came to the surface again. No plan, no place of residence, no American money! "Good Lord! I forgot all about exchanging it on shipboard!" he exclaimed. "Don't let that trouble you, sir," said the clerk, with real affability. "Our own bank will exchange your money in the morning." "But I haven't a penny of American money on my person!" "How much will you need for the evening, sir?" "Not more than fifty." The clerk brought forth a slip of paper, wrote something on it, and handed it to Warburton. "Sign here," he said, indicating a blank space. And presently Mr. Robert, having deposited his foreign money in the safe, pocketed the receipt for its deposit along with five crisp American notes. There is nothing lacking in these modern hostelries, excepting it be a church.