fly.

"Oh, no. His manners are perfect, and he has such a natural dignity,"
she went on, looking affectionately across the table at the heir of the
Mortimers, who, finding Mr. Bennett's medical confidences a trifle
fatiguing, was yawning broadly, and absently balancing his wine glass on
a fork.

"Besides," said Billie in a soft and dreamy voice, "we are engaged to be
married!"

Sec. 3

Sam didn't care, of course. We, who have had the privilege of a glimpse
into his iron soul, know that. He was not in the least upset by the
news--just surprised. He happened to be raising his glass at the moment,
and he registered a certain amount of restrained emotion by snapping the
stem in half and shooting the contents over the tablecloth: but that was
all.

"Good heavens, Sam!" ejaculated Sir Mallaby, aghast. His wine glasses
were an old and valued set.

Sam blushed as red as the stain on the cloth.

"Awfully sorry, father! Don't know how it happened."

"Something must have given you a shock," suggested Billie kindly.

The old retainer rallied round with napkins, and Sir Mallaby, who was
just about to dismiss the affair with the polished ease of a good host,
suddenly became aware of the activities of Bream. That young man, on
whose dreamy calm the accident had made no impression whatever, had
successfully established the equilibrium of the glass and the fork, and
was now cautiously inserting beneath the latter a section of a roll, the
whole forming a charming picture in still life.

"If that glass is in your way...." said Sir Mallaby as soon as he had
hitched up his drooping jaw sufficiently to enable him to speak. He was
beginning to feel that he would be lucky if he came out of this
dinner-party with a mere remnant of his precious set.

"Oh, Sir Mallaby," said Billie, casting an adoring glance at the
juggler, "you needn't be afraid that Bream will drop it. _He_ isn't
clumsy! He is wonderful at that sort of thing, simply wonderful! I think
it's so splendid," said Billie, "when men can do things like that. I'm
always trying to get Bream to do some of his tricks for people, but he's
so modest, he won't."

"Refreshingly different," Sir Mallaby considered, "from the average
drawing-room entertainer."

"Yes," said Billie emphatically. "I think the most terrible thing in the
world is a man who tries to entertain when he can't. Did I tell you
about the man on board ship, father, at the ship's concert? Oh, it was
the mos