Then came the final sensation, of the little old lady in her strange costume and ringlets, passing through the vestibule, on the arm of the young giant, followed by the sleek-looking, well-groomed pair of cousins, who chatted to each other with an air of the utmost unconcern towards the curious glances now levelled at them upon all sides. “It _must_ be Lady Phyllis Fenton,” said some. “It _can’t_ be,” said others. “Then who the devil is it?” asked the men. And still the little group passed on, smiling and unconcerned, though a red spot burned in the giant’s smooth cheeks, and he carefully avoided any possibility of meeting Hal’s gleaming eyes. A roomy electric brougham was awaiting them, and then the watchers said it glided away: “Surely that is Lady Phyllis’s car and liveries?” But what they would have made of the scene inside the car it is difficult to say, for the dear little old lady suddenly collapsed backwards on her seat, with a howl of laughter, and shot into the air a pair of trousered legs. “Oh my conscience!” gasped Quin, amid choking laughter. “It will be the sensation of the season; and when Aunt Phyllis gets to hear about it she’ll first have a fit with wrath and then laugh until she’s ill.” “I’d no idea you were such an actor, Quin,” Hal exclaimed admiringly when she could speak; “you ought be holding crowded houses enthralled, instead of slumming.” “Heaven preserve me. Theatres are mostly mummies looking at mummies. Down east I get in touch with flesh and blood—the real thing; and I prefer it. But I wouldn’t have missed tonight for something. Oh, lord!... just think of the people who know Aunt Phyllis that I must have cut; and all the fuss there will be when aunt is admonished for supping at the Savoy with an actress! We aren’t half through the fun yet.” With which they all went off into fresh peals of laughter, at various reminiscences, and were bordering upon a condition of imbecility when Lorraine at last joined them with the latest news. “It’s positively immense,” she said. “The manager told me Lady Phyllis Fenton had come with Miss Pritchard, and tomorrow every paper will announce it, and the mystery will grow. I ’phoned for a private room at the Savoy, to keep the puzzle up. She must only be seen passing through on Mr. Hermon’s arm. How splendid they must look. I almost wish I wasn’t in the secret.” “Oh, they do!” Hal cried. “Alymer ought to have had knee breeches and silk stockings, and they would look just perfect. I have to talk fast to Dick, or I should give it all away in my face.” “You’ll have to settle with your aunt,” Lorraine laughed to Quin. “I hope she won’t cut you off with a shilling.” “She will be furiously angry and terrifically interested,” he said. “I expect I shall have to take you all to dinner to show her what the party looked like. Of course, Bonne, her maid, will give it away, because I borrowed the garments from her, and said they were for a play I was getting up in the East End.”