"That's just grand!" cried Zoe Oppner enthusiastically. "It's too cute for anything! Oh, Jerry, let's! Make him do it, Sheila!" Jerry, otherwise Lord Vignoles, clearly regarded the projected Oriental experiment with no friendly eye. "I mean to say----" "That's settled, Zoe!" said the pretty hostess calmly. "Never mind him! Alexander!" The footman addressed came forward. "You will step out on the front porch, Alexander, and say to the first gentleman who passes, if he's in evening dress: 'Lady Vignoles requests the pleasure of your company at dinner.' If he says he doesn't know me, reply that I am quite aware of that! Do you understand?" Alexander was shocked. "I mean to say, Sheila----" began his lordship. "Did you hear me, Alexander?" "I've got to stand out in Cadogan Gardens, my lady----" "Shall I repeat it again, slowly?" "I heard you, my lady." "Very well. Show the gentleman into the library. You have only five minutes." With an appealing look towards Lord Vignoles, who, having ostentatiously removed and burnished his eyeglass, seemed to experience some difficulty in replacing it, Alexander departed. "_I_ claim him!" cried Zoe, as the footman disappeared. "Whoever he is or whatever he's like, he shall take me in to dinner!" "What I mean to say is," blurted Vignoles, "that it would be all right at a country-house party at Christmas, say----" "It's going to be all right here, dear!" interrupted his wife, affectionately squeezing his arm. "Why, think of the possibilities! New York would just go crazy on the idea!" A silence fell between them as, with Zoe Oppner and the Zimmermanns, they made their way to the library. Only a few minutes elapsed, to their surprise, ere Alexander reappeared. Martyr-like, he had performed his painful duty, and a beatific consciousness of his martyrdom was writ large upon him. In an absolutely toneless voice he announced: "Detective-Inspector Pepys!" "Here! I mean to say--we can't have a policeman----" began Vignoles, but his wife's little hand was laid upon his lips. Zoe Oppner, with brimming eyes, made a brave attempt, and then fled to a distant settee, striving with her handkerchief to stifle her laughter. The guest entered. From her remote corner Zoe Oppner peeped at him, and her laughter ceased. Lady Vignoles looked pleased; her husband seemed surprised. Zimmermann watched the stranger with a curious expression in his eyes. Detective-Inspector Pepys was a tall man of military bearing, bronzed, and wearing a slight beard, trimmed to a point. He was perfectly composed, and came forward with an easy smile upon his handsome face. His clothes fitted him faultlessly. Even Lord Vignoles (a sartorial connoisseur) had to concede that his dress-suit was a success. He looked a wealthy Colonial gentleman.