244 ANGEL PAVEMENT

white wine, Lilian? It's all the same to me,"

Td like red, I think/' she replied. "Burgundy per-
haps." It was more sustaining. After all, with bread
and butter and some Burgundy, it might be possible to
stun one's appetite. She had no hopes of the dinner.

"Burgundy it is," cried Mr. Birtley, with the air of
a reckless musketeer. "All right, then. A bottle of
Number Eleven. Beaune."

"You geef me moanay," murmured the ancient
foreigner.

"Righto. Money. There you are." And then he gave
Miss Matfield a wink and smiled at her. She smiled
back, softening towards him a little, for he was so
.obviously enjoying himself and thinking it all so1 won-
derful. Poor Norman!

"You ought to come and see us at the College next
time you're home, Lilian," he said. "You'd like it.
We've got one or two amusing fellows on the staff, and
the students aren't a bad crowd. We have little dances
sometimes, and tennis in the summer. It's growing, too.
In a year or two, if I can scrape up some money, I may
get a partnership. Not bad, eh? The fact is/' and he
lowered his voice, as if to keep these confidences away
from the waitress, who had just deposited some micro-
scopic pieces of fish in front of them and was still stand-
ing near, as if to see if they would have the audacity to
eat them, "the fact is, I can get on better with old
Warwick than any of the other fellows. He's taken
rather a fancy to me, thinks I've got more drive than
the others. And as a matter of fact," he added, looking
earnestly at her, "I have. And I wish you'd come and
look me up down there."

She said she would, if she could manage it, and then