istan."

"So?"

"She's an M.A., and she's worked like a slave to educate her brothers
and sisters, and they're all turning out well. I don't know any girl,
except Meg, of whom I think so highly as Hennie Penny."

"Henrietta?"

Graeme nodded.

"Well now," said Pixley presently. "As a matter of information, what
was in your mind to do if I'd gone on?"

"You'd never have got as far as the church, my boy."

"No? Why?"

"If the Seigneur hadn't stopped you, I would. But I'm inclined to
think he'd have seen to you all right."

"By Jove, he looked it! What would he have done?"

"Confined you as a harmless lunatic till the ceremony was over, I
should say, and then sent you home with the proverbial insect in your
ear."

"And if he hadn't?"

"Then I should have taken matters into my own hands and bottled you up
till you couldn't do any mischief. You could have hauled me before the
court here, and I'd probably have been fined one and eightpence. It
would have been worth the money, and cheap at the price, simply to see
the proceedings."

"It's an extraordinary place this."

"It's without exception the most delightful little place in the
world."

"Jolly nice house you've got here too. Think of stopping long?"

"Some months probably. The curious thing about Sark is that the longer
you stop the longer you want to stop. It grows on you. First week I
was here it seemed to me very small--felt afraid of walking fast lest
I should step over the edge, and all that kind of thing. Now that I've
been here a couple of months it is growing bigger every day. I'm not
sure that one could know Sark under a lifetime. We'll take you round
in a boat and show it you from the outside."

"I'll have to get back, I'm sorry to say. You see, I started at a
moment's notice. Things are duller than a ditch in the City, but I'd
no chance to make any arrangements for a stay. But I'll tell you what.
If you're stopping on here and like to send me an invitation for a
week or two, I'd come like a shot. I'll take a carriage up that road
from the harbour, though, next time. Jove! I felt like a convict on
the treadmill."

"You have the invitation now, my boy, and we'll be delighted to see
you whenever it suits you to come."

"That's very good of you. Miss Penny be stopping on with you?"

"As long as she will. She'd got a bit run down and it's done her a
heap of good."

"Well, if you'll show me how to go, I'll toddle off home now. I
haven't t