Page:Pleased to Meet You (1927).pdf/153

 gapacity to bay, dot sound to me like de massacre of de innocents. Und if de florin she go any lower ve haf to hire a plomber to hunt for her down de drain pipe."

The tactful Colonel was about to lead Nyla away from this painful scene when a dark figure that had been peering about in the moonlight approached cautiously and proved to be Romsteck.

"Your pardon, Fräulein," he said politely. "Colonel, here are the dispatches you were expecting." He handed an envelope.

"Oh yes," said the Colonel, at first a little annoyed at the interruption. Then the shape and feel of the envelope reassured him. "The dispatches, yes. I wouldn't have missed them for—for a couple of hundred florins."

"Exactly, sir. The Colonel is always accurate."

"A lovely evening, Romsteck. Are all the guests quite happy?"

"There is one, Colonel, who cannot be kept happy indefinitely."