Chapter 14 Summary

The mystery of Mr. Lan is solved the very next day with the arrival of Mr. Leonard Bast, a clerk employed by the Porphyrion Fire Insurance Company. He announces that he is apologizing for the intrusion of the woman who had come looking for him yesterday. The demanding woman was his wife and had seen Meg's name and address on a card in his possessions. Leonard shows the girls the card and Meg does not remember that this is the unnamed young man whose umbrella Helen had inadvertently taken that night at a concert a few years ago.

Leonard had kept the card as a symbol of stature: theirs and his aspirations. Because he is always working to improve his position, Leonard wants the adventure that comes to those who know more than the outside of books. What is available to Leonard Bast...