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 to dine with him, it was past now; her curiosity had pushed down the balance in his favor.

The cab drew up before a handsome house at which Philippa glanced knowingly, collecting her forces before going into action.

"Wait round the corner," she ordered, as she stepped to the pavement and turned to mount the wide stone steps.

The driver obeyed, and Valdeck laughed silently as he noticed the force of habit back of the command. Evidently, "Wait round the corner" was a familiar phrase with this Philippa. Meanwhile the object of his plans had been admitted to the elaborate hall by an elaborate butler who invited her to be seated in a parlor whose elaborateness was of the newest and most gorgeous variety, of the sort that secretly filled Philippa with delight, though openly she professed to scorn the upholsterer's style of furnishing as a sort of Cook's personally conducted tour in house decoration.

Mrs. Denison entered, all smiles and rustle. She matched her abode perfectly from the curled and undulated erection of her pale hair to the 140