In spite of Miss Spencer's quiet words of renunciation, there was a
look of pleading in her shyly uplifted eyes impossible to resist.
Brant promptly surrendered before this masked battery.
"It will be no more than a pleasure to recover it for you," he
protested, gallantly.
The stairs leading down from the hall entrance were shrouded in
darkness, the street below nearly deserted of loiterers, although
lights streamed forth resplendently from the undraped windows of the
Occidental and the hotel opposite. Assisted in his search by Mrs.
Guffy, the officer succeeded in recovering the lost fan, and started to
return. Just without the hotel door, under the confusing shadows of
the wide porch, he came suddenly face to face with a young woman, the
unexpected encounter a mutual and embarrassing surprise.