Page:Alice Lauder.pdf/49

play all Bach’s fugues by heart—was almost unthinkable.

He was writing at a window which overlooked the broad, covered terrace in front of the hotel, where all the floating fashionable population of the steamers was wont to assemble before lunch; and at that day Galle was the meeting-place for two or three lines of Indian and Australian mail packets. The usual traffic in jewellery and curiosities was in full swing as Campbell opened the shutter and looked out for a moment’s rest and fresh air. Just below him was a group of the “Suez” passengers—of the most undesirable section. Miss Lauder was standing in the centre of the group, quite happy and at home; and her faculty of making friends with all sorts and conditions of men and women, irrespective of social position, or even of the legal penalties of etiquette, was evidently finding full development.

She looked rather pretty from a distance, bright with health and amusement. On her forefinger she balanced a very small brilliant-plumaged paroquet, and every minute or two she raised the tiny jewelled creature to her lips with a delicate caress, while a small Persian kitten, with an immense feathery tail, was coiled up comfortably in a round fuzzy ball on her