The Thousandth Woman

t the other, and from the man for collars and dress shirts, in another of St. James', to the only man for soft shirts, on Piccadilly. Hilton Toye visited them all in turn this fine September m

e bit of a military blood, who had come ashore in a pair of cloth to

Toye see his club any time he was passing and cared to look in for lunch. He had said so as though he would like it a great deal, and suddenly Toye had a mind to take him at his word right now.

ot know and was not the man to inquire. It was no business of his, anyway. Reference to a card, traded for his own in Southampton Water, and duly filed in hi

d the visitor on their way back through the hall. A martia

Genoa either," said Captain Aylm

ot about the city?" pursued

neither ashore nor afloat. It's a bit amphibious. Of course you can go

o days?" Toye was cutting his

d had a night in the Bay

ded Toye, as though he was thinking of something else. There was

ou've cut

I was going to say I only got on at Genoa, and they couldn't give me a roo

atural topic of conversation. Twice his host had listened with adamantine politeness; this time he wa

ell, frankly, I wasn't, but it may have been my fault. It does rather warp

es, and by Jove he had to see a

restraint. Toye rose with finer alacrity. "I hope you won't think me ru

rt. "I was only going to ask you one thing about Mr. Cazalet," he said, "and I guess I've a reason for a

ght question readily enough. "I thought he was a very good chap as far as Naples, but after Geno

four, di

ould have played Wedding Gues

s he said he had friends in Rome; but we never heard of 'em beforehand, and I should have let the whole thing strike me a bit sooner if I'd been Cazalet. Soon enough to

ur Street, the latest little time-table of continental trains. This he carried, not on foot but in a taxi, to the Savoy Hotel, where it kept him busy in his own room for the best part of another hour. But by that time Hilton Toye looked more than an hour older than on sitting down at his writing-table with penc

re the visitor of the morning again presented himself before the afternoon; now merely a little worn, as a man will look after losing a s

red to him; he took it listlessly, scarcely looked at it at first, then tore it in his anxiety to find something he had qu

ne!" he crie

to go and see somebo

must hav

ye, with the decisive cour

ne; you don't look a bit fit

o place for me in the fall. Just as well, too, I jud

hav

s you to all the capitals of Europe in turn. It takes you so long to

for the moment. But already his high spirits were reasserting themselves; indeed, a cynic with an

," said Toye, watching

k from there!" Cazalet lo

s my mistake, and here's this situat

situ

it or not, and I don't like it any, because I don't have any friends there. And that

et, "with pleasure." B

ve me an introduction to tho

t showed between his lips, moistening them. It was

ou I'd any fr

arse than puzzled. Toye made himself chuck

" said he, "I guess I