Albert was in a hurry. He skimmed over the carpet like awater-beetle.

　　"Quick!" he said.

　　He cast a glance at the maid, George's co-worker. She was reading anovelette with her back turned.

　　"Tell 'er you'll be back in five minutes," said Albert, jerking athumb.

　　"Unnecessary. She won't notice my absence. Ever since shediscovered that I had never met her cousin Frank in America, I havemeant nothing in her life.""Then come on.""Where?""I'll show you."That it was not the nearest and most direct route which they tookto the trysting-place George became aware after he had followed hisyoung guide through doors and up stairs and down stairs and had atlast come to a halt in a room to which the sound of the musicpenetrated but faintly. He recognized the room. He had been in itbefore. It was the same room where he and Billie Dore had listenedto Keggs telling the story of Lord Leonard and his leap. Thatwindow there, he remembered now, opened on to the very balcony fromwhich the historic Leonard had done his spectacular dive. That itshould be the scene of this other secret meeting struck George asappropriate. The coincidence appealed to him.

　　Albert vanished. George took a deep breath. Now that the moment hadarrived for which he had waited so long he was aware of a return ofthat feeling of stage-fright which had come upon him when he heardReggie Byng's voice. This sort of thing, it must be remembered, wasnot in George's usual line. His had been a quiet and uneventfullife, and the only exciting thing which, in his recollection, hadever happened to him previous to the dramatic entry of Lady Maudinto his taxi-cab that day in Piccadilly, had occurred at collegenearly ten years before, when a festive room-mate--no doubt with thebest motives--had placed a Mexican horned toad in his bed on thenight of the Yale football game.

　　A light footstep sounded outside, and the room whirled round Georgein a manner which, if it had happened to Reggie Byng, would havecaused that injudicious drinker to abandon the habits of alifetime. When the furniture had returned to its place and the rughad ceased to spin, Maud was standing before him.

　　Nothing is harder to remember than a once-seen face. It had causedGeorge a good deal of distress and inconvenience that, try as hemight, he could not conjure up anything more than a vague vision ofwhat the only girl in the world really looked like. He had carriedaway with him from their meeting in the cab only a confusedrecollection of eyes that shone and a mouth that curved in a smile;and the brief moment in which he was able to refresh his memory,when he found her in the lane with Reggie Byng and the broken-downcar, had not been enough to add definiteness. The consequence wasthat Maud came upon him now with the stunning effect of beauty seenfor the first time. He gasped. In that dazzling ball-dress, withthe flush of dancing on her cheeks and the light of dancing in hereyes, she was so much more wonderful than any picture of her whichmemory had been able to produce for his inspection that it was asif he had never seen her before.