"This is indeed extraordinary! Can you tell me your experience?"

"No; for I remember nothing of it. But I went up them and came down again."

There was a long pause, during which Judge frequently cleared his throat.

"I must believe you, Miss Loment, and yet…And this was the second occasion, you tell me? Were you by yourself the first time as well?"

"Yes."

"I can't doubt your word; the same thing has happened to me more than a few times. Astonishing as your statement is, Miss Loment, in a sense I'm relieved by it. I may as well confess it-I have sometimes been alarmed for my reason. The stable laws of Nature are the foundation of the whole of our experience, and when once in a while we seem to see them no longer valid, it is inevitable that we should prefer to suspect our understanding."

"Then you did go up yesterday?"

"Yes, I did go up."

"And remember nothing?"

"Nothing whatever."

"Nothing that strikes you?"

"Might not we have met in that upper part of the house?"

Judge looked up quickly. "What makes you think that?"

"You don't realise that it might explain my scarf's being in your possession?" she asked in a very low voice.

"Your scarf?"

"Don't be in a hurry. Think it over for a minute, Mr. Judge. It's important."

"I cannot see how our meeting there, or anywhere else, would account for your scarf's being in my pocket."

"If you cannot see, I cannot help you."

"I am not a thief, and why should such a gift by made?"

"But perhaps it was made."

"I cannot imagine what you mean," said Judge, turning pale.

Isbel cast uneasy glances around her. She drew a little closer to him, re-arranging her skirt with nervous impatience.

"That's the another thing I wanted to talk about, Mr. Judge. I don't know how we really stand towards each other…Of course we're friends… Since yesterday, our relationship has somehow seemed to me very undefined. It has been worrying me."

"I think I understand what you mean."

"Is it our experience in common, or is it something else? Do try and help me. It's frightfully difficult for me to speak of all this."

"But is it necessary to, Miss Loment? As you say, we are friends. Perhaps if we show ourselves too curious, we shall merely be robbing ourselves of what we already possess."

"Oh, don't you see? If we don't know how we stand, we can't even be friends. How can I have a man for a friend whose feelings I have to guess at?…I believe I'm justified in asking you, I don't require you to commit yourself in any way, and whatever you tell me, I shan't take advantage of it-but I think I ought to know just how it stands with you."

Judge kept closing and opening his hand agitatedly.

"We are really carrying the conversation too far, Miss Loment. You must see that you and I have no right whatever to discuss feelings."

"You don't or won't understand. If you have feelings which refer to me, they are my property, and I have a perfect right to know what they are." Her voice quietened. "I must ask you to tell me…Do you regard me…in any special manner? Or…Can't you see how awkwardly I am situated till I know how…we stand to each other?" she concluded weakly.

"We are good friends, Miss Loment, and nothing more."

"So you persist in setting up this icy barrier? But how can we go on meeting each other, if our heads are to remain full of unsatisfied fancies and suspicions?…I promise you one thing, Mr. Judge-if you decline to be my real friend, you shan't be my friend at all. I shall never want to see you again after this."

"I shall be sorry for that, but if everything is to finish so suddenly, at least I prefer that it shall not be owing to an act of egregious folly on my part. Since I don't possess the advantages of a younger man, I daren't imitate the rashness of one."

"But what are you afraid of? I can scarcely punish you for obeying me. Whatever you tell me, I promise you it shan't bring our friendship to a close. Nothing will be changed, except for the better. Won't you speak now?"

"I cannot."

She paled, and began to tap the asphalt paving with her foot. "You can hardly refuse to answer a direct question. Am I anything to you at all, Mr. Judge?"

"Perhaps you are a very great deal, but the point is, I can be nothing to you."

"You mean exactly that?"

"Yes. I have a higher regard for you, Miss Loment, than for any other living woman."

"But what is implied by a very high regard?" She could scarcely breathe the words out.

"There is a special term for that feeling but I am not permitted to pronounce it."

"Do I understand you correctly?" she asked, nearly inaudibly.

Judge made no reply.

After a long silence, Isbel gave a spasmodic, wavering sigh.

"Shall I take my scarf now? There's no one to see."

He produced a small brown paper packet from his pocket, and passed it over to her. She kept turning it in her hand, with a sort of weary indifference.

"What are we to do about it? You know we must find out how it came to be in your possession. I cannot go there again, but you can."

"If you wish me to. But of what use is it, if I am to remember nothing?"

"Could you not take pencil and paper?"

"That's an idea, and I can't conceive why it has never occurred to me before. Very well, then; I will run over."

"This afternoon. But how shall I communicate the result to you?"

"I don't wish you either to write or call, Mr. Judge. Couldn't you manage to come over to Brighton to-morrow afternoon, and see me somewhere?"

"I must manage it. Where shall it be, and at what time?"

"My aunt always takes her rest in the afternoon, Let's say three o'clock-at the Hove, I think; there are fewer people there to bother one. You know the Baths, facing the sea?"

"Yes."

"Outside there, then. You see the importance of this to both of us, don't you?"

"My only motive in the business is to re-assure your mind. I draw no anticipations from the result."

Isbel gave him a keen glance. "Yet after what you have said, it can't be a matter of indifference to you."

"Candidly, Miss Loment, I don't wish for a result. I want our friendship to continue, and that will be impossible if…I desire nothing more than that we shall settle down again into the old pleasant state. I feel confident that you will find we have foolishly allowed our imaginations to run away with us over this matter."

They had both risen to their feet, but a heavier shower at that moment coming on, they were compelled to seat themselves again. Isbel turned her head away, and started fingering her hair.

"By the way," she announced suddenly, "I haven't mentioned your decision about the house yet to my aunt, so you had better not, either."

"Just as well not to I'm not sure at all, after this, that Runhill will make a suitable residence for you."

"For all that, I may keep you to your word. However, we won't do anything in a hurry…That woman will spoil her furs, if she's not careful."

She referred to an elegantly-garbed lady who wsa bearing down on their shelter from the west. She was obviously flurried by the distressing rain, as only a woman is flurried; but her action remained perfectly graceful and fascinating to watch, while she carried her furs and velvets as though they were a part of herself. Though tall and slender, it was evident even at that distance that she had long since finished with girlhood, but Isbel was unable as yet to distinguish her features. Judge happened to be sitting on her other side, so she failed to notice his embarrassment.

"It's an acquaintance of mine," he brought out somewhat quickly. "That is, she is staying at the same hotel. A Mrs. Richborough-a widow."

"Charming!" responded Isbel vaguely. "I can't see her face. Is she pretty?"