1.

　　In these days of rapid movement, when existence has become littlemore than a series of shocks of varying intensity, astonishment isthe shortest-lived of all the emotions. The human brain has traineditself to elasticity and recovers its balance in the presence of theunforeseen with a speed almost miraculous. The man who says 'I _am_surprised!' really means 'I was surprised a moment ago, but now Ihave adjusted myself to the situation.' There was an instant in whichJill looked at Wally and Wally at Jill with the eye of totalamazement, and then, almost simultaneously, each began--the processwas sub-conscious--to regard this meeting not as an isolated andinexplicable event, but as something resulting from a perfectlylogical chain of circumstances. Jill perceived that the presence inthe apartment of that snap-shot of herself should have prepared herfor the discovery that the place belonged to someone who had knownher as a child, and that there was no reason for her to be stunned bythe fact that this someone was Wally Mason. Wally, on his side, knewthat Jill was in New York; and had already decided, erroneously, thatshe had found his address in the telephone directory and was payingan ordinary call. It was, perhaps, a little unusual that she shouldhave got into the place without ringing the front door bell and thatshe should be in his sitting-room in the dark, but these were minoraspects of the matter. To the main fact, that here she was, he hadadjusted his mind, and, while there was surprise in his voice when hefinally spoke, it was not the surprise of one who suspects himself ofseeing visions.

　　"Hello!" he said.

　　"Hullo!" said Jill.

　　It was not a very exalted note on which to pitch the conversation,but it had the merit of giving each of them a little more time tocollect themselves.

　　"This is . . . I wasn't expecting you!" said Wally.

　　"I wasn't expecting _you!_" said Jill.

　　There was another pause, in which Wally, apparently examining herlast words and turning them over in his mind found that they did notsquare with his preconceived theories.

　　"You weren't expecting me?""I certainly was not!""But . . . but you knew I lived here?"Jill shook her head. Wally reflected for an instant, and then put hisfinger, with a happy inspiration, on the very heart of the mystery.

　　"Then how on earth did you get here?"He was glad he had asked that. The sense of unreality which had cometo him in the first startling moment of seeing her and vanished underthe influence of logic had returned as strong as ever. If she did notknow he lived in this place, how in the name of everything uncannyhad she found her way here? A momentary wonder as to whether all thiswas not mixed up with telepathy and mental suggestion and all thatsort of thing came to him. Certainly he had been thinking of her allthe time since their parting at the Savoy Hotel that night threeweeks had more back . . . No, that was absurd. There must be somesounder reason for her presence. He waited for her to give it.