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 accidental and unwilling, there could not easily have been a more painful little group of people among all the pleasure-seekers on the "Duumvir." Ogle made the meal as short a one as he could with any assurance to himself that he obtained a sustaining quantity of nourishment;—he meant to avoid lingering at the table with the Tinker family, and he was determined not to be seen walking out with them, which would be more conspicuous and therefore worse. He had come late to lunch; nevertheless he was the first person in the room to place his napkin on the table and rise for departure.

Tinker glanced up with more than mere surprise in his expression; there was something suddenly haggard in his look. "My goodness!" he said. "You don't eat much. You through already?"

"Yes," Ogle said, and he added coldly, "I take coffee in the lounge."

It was an unfortunate addition, one he need not have made, since his only purpose was to use the word "lounge" as a chill corrective to the misnomer "lobby," which had irked him yesterday upon the lips of Tinker. Tinker avenged himself at once, although unconsciously; he had been alone with his wife and daughter at the table before Ogle's arrival,