Then she might have met Arthur and married him, at eight or nine and twenty--a much more appropriate age for Arthur's wife--that is, in the event of Arthur having had the sense to be born on the date of his actual birth, though, of course, a man so exasperating was capable of anything. It would have been so interesting to marry a French noble and have those few years' glimpse of foreign life. And, in that case, the poor dear boy would certainly not have found himself in this sordid hotel-keeping element; he might have been in the diplomatic service; he was made for it. Why had her life not been arranged on these lines? An elder brother would have been so good for Charlie; she would have been less tempted to spoil the child; and being nearer his age, and having already trained one husband, she would have been more capable of understanding Arthur's freaks and fancies; and some recent regrettable incidents might never have occurred. But it is a crooked world. Turning with a sigh, she found herself face to face with a figure that had come down unseen in the shadows, and proved to be that of a fellow-visitor. "Where is M. Isidore?" this lady asked abruptly in the German manner. Hardly had Ermengarde expressed polite ignorance on the subject, when her musings were again interrupted by the appearance of Miss Boundrish's parents, on their evening stroll, with the same query, followed by expressions of disappointment at her inability to satisfy their curiosity. "But where can he be?" exclaimed Mrs. Boundrish with irritation, upon which she was tartly advised to go back to the hotel and telephone for the required information. "But you must know which way he went?" Mrs. Boundrish persisted obstinately. "Indeed, I am neither as observant nor as curious as you suppose," she replied sweetly, vexed at having shown temper to a casual travelling acquaintance--a mere "passing ship"--whereupon Mr. and Mrs. Boundrish exchanged glances; while Ermengarde, incidentally remarking upon the well-known chill of the sunset hour, rose and walked in the opposite direction to her inquisitors--homewards--remembering as she went that it was not the first time that questions concerning the youth who might have been her son, if she had been ten years older, had annoyed her. The pettiness and impertinence of these underbred _tourists_--tourists are never of the first person; people have owned to criminality, but not to being tourists--the worst of these small hotels--people are so mixed up and thrown together.