"I think we'll have a little clear soup to start with," he began, "followed by sole _à la bonne femme_, a roast grouse, and iced meringues." He paused. "Do you prefer champagne or sparkling Moselle?" "I don't know," said Nancy frankly. "I've never tasted either of them." "We'll have a half bottle of both then," said Colin. "You can try them and see which you like best, and I'll drink the other." "By the way," he added, as the waiter hurried off with the order, "have you been seeing anything of that friend of yours, Major Fenton--the chap you introduced me to in Jubilee Place?" For a moment Nancy remained silent. "Why do you ask me that?" she inquired. "Oh, I don't know," said Colin casually. "It just happened to come into my head." She paused again. "He has been round at the studio two or three evenings," she said slowly. "As a matter of fact, he was there last night." "I suppose he's heard all about your new job?" She nodded. "Doctor Gray----" she began. "Make it Colin," he interrupted. "I can't call you Nancy unless you back me up." "Well, Colin, then----" She hesitated once more. "There's something I think I ought to tell you about Major Fenton, only--only it's horribly difficult for me to know how to put it." "Wait until you've had some dinner," he suggested. "No one talks comfortably when they're half starving." She shook her head. "No, now I've started I think I'd better go on and get it over. The first time I saw Major Fenton after we met him together he naturally asked me who you were. I told him what I knew about you and how we'd become acquainted, and, although he didn't say much, he seemed to think that I'd done wrong in asking you back to my studio. I suppose in a way he looks on himself as a sort of guardian of mine." "Perhaps he does," said Colin gravely. "People who have lived a long time in hot climates often suffer from hallucinations!" "That didn't matter," continued Nancy, "but last night when he came round he spoke about you again, and this time he said something that made me really angry--something that I'm perfectly sure isn't true." Colin was leaning toward her, his gray eyes alight with interest. "What was it?" he demanded briefly. "He--well, he didn't put it quite definitely, but he hinted that you were not the sort of man to make a friend of; that you were leaving the hospital on account of some dreadful scandal about one of the nurses." For a second Colin stared at her in blank amazement. Then he suddenly broke into a peal of laughter. "Good heavens, Nancy!" he exclaimed. "If you'd only seen 'em!" "I didn't believe it, of course," she went on hurriedly. "I was certain he must be making some stupid mistake." Colin's lips tightened. "I object to people making mistakes of that sort about me," he observed rather grimly. Before Nancy could reply the waiter arrived with the soup, followed a moment later by another, who proceeded to uncork and pour out the wine.