He wondered a little what impelled her to state this fact so defiantly, as if it had been called in question. It cheered him though, for certainly the man they had been following was not an American. So they could not be close relatives. "I'm so glad it was you!" she went on. "So am I!" he said smiling. "A person like you can understand." "But I understand nothing." "Ah, don't ask me!" she said with a painful air. "I can't explain. It's a family affair!" That put Greg back where he had started from. He was silenced but not satisfied. "Suppose I need you again?" she asked. "Would you be willing----?" "Try me!" "How can I get you?" "Well, I haven't any address yet. The man I bought the cab from told me where he kept it, and I suppose I'll hang out there. Have you anything to write it down with?" She nodded, and produced a tiny note-book and pencil. "Elmer Fishback," he began. She wrote it down, smiling to herself at the comical sound of the syllables. "My right name is Gregory Parr," he hastily added. "That's better," she said. He continued: "Care of Bessie Bickle--he didn't say whether she was Miss or Mrs." "I'll just put B. Bickle." "Gibbon Street south of Houston." She wrote it all down. All this while Greg was wondering how she expected to get across the lighted lobby and by the hotel desk without discovery. The question tormented him. Finally he could contain it no longer. "You can't go in--like that," he blurted out. She instantly mounted on her high horse. "What do you mean?" "Well, you know--anybody could see----" he stammered, "anybody could see that you were--well, that you were not a boy." She sharply averted her head from him. He saw the crimson tide creep up from her neck. "I don't see what reason you have for saying that," she murmured. He strove stumblingly to put her at her ease. "Oh, it isn't your clothes. They're all right. You look out o' sight! But--but--well, a girl is different. It's not altogether a matter of looks. I mean the charm of a girl sticks out all over you." She ignored this. "I'm not going through the lobby," she said abruptly, "but through the service entrance. I bribed the watchman on the way out, and he will let me in again." Greg breathed more freely. A constrained silence fell between them. "I'm not altogether a fool!" she presently burst out sorely. "I didn't venture out until long after dark. And I kept away from all brilliantly lighted places. Nobody found me out but you." "That's all right," said Greg. "But suppose--well, suppose I hadn't been, well--decent." "I would have known exactly what to do!" she said with an intimidating air that made him smile broadly. "But I knew you were the instant I looked at you," she added. "Thanks," said Greg. She was still sore. "I don't see how you could have guessed!" she went on. "At home when we have theatricals everybody says I make a perfectly dandy boy!" "That's different," said Greg smiling.