She made no acknowledgment of my compliment. She was looking at me as though engrossed in her own thoughts, so that in those few seconds I found myself studying her. No breathing person could have called her beautiful, even good-looking. She was dark, with dark hair, eyes and eyebrows. Her cheek bones were almost prominent, her chin narrow, her mouth large but so sensitive that it seemed never at rest. There was not an atom of make-up on her face, and her pallor in the light in which she stood was almost ghastly. Her arms and hands were as lovely as the rest of her body. I could have imagined her, severely dressed, in the classical shades of a great library, one of the leaders of women's thought. "I shall stay here for your performance," she announced. "Please do your best. Sanda, fetch me a chair." At the risk of seeming egotistical, I am here going to announce that we three had very much improved in our work during these days of our prosperity. Rose's perfectly chosen gowns, her renewed health of body and mind, seemed to have given to her voice a richer and sweeter note, and to her feet all the fascinating lightness of modern dancing. Leonard's sense of humour had broadened, and his capacity for finding new stories amounted positively to genius. I myself, in better health, certainly found myself a more adequate partner for Rose, both in singing and dancing. Whatever influence our patron had had to use in the earlier days to secure us engagements was unneeded now. We were at the Parthenon according to instructions, but the engagement had been given to us on our own application and without any outside intervention. Perhaps because our unambitious performance soothed the jangled nerves of our audience, we were extraordinarily well received that night. When it was all over, I found Naida still waiting in her chair. She rose at once and took my arm. "You will escort me to my dressing room," she said. "With the greatest pleasure," I assented. "You see," she went on, "I am making the way easy for you. You are a myrmidon of the great Mr. Thomson, are you not?" I was startled. "I know a Mr. Thomson," I admitted, "but it is some time since I have heard from him." Her eyes mocked me. "The cleverest of all conspirators," she said, as she came to a standstill outside her dressing room and waved her hand to Rose and Leonard, "are those who do not fear to tell the truth. Lies lead far on the road to failure, but we each have our own methods." "Believe me," I assured her earnestly, "I have never heard of you in my life except from the newspapers." "And you have never seen me before?" "Never!" She looked at me steadfastly. Her dark, heavily lidded eyes seemed a little contracted; her lips smiled as though they had a joke to themselves. She was a strange-looking creature. "Well," she conceded, "granted that this is our first meeting--what of it, Monsieur?" "I pray that it may not be our last," I answered, with ready sincerity.