bird very frequent in this
locality. They make a sort of harsh, hooting howl, sir. I have sometimes
wondered," said Webster, pursuing a not uninteresting train of thought,
"whether that might be the reason of the name."

Before Mr. Bennett could join him in the region of speculation into
which he had penetrated, there was a grinding of brakes on the gravel
outside, and the wettest motor car in England drew up at the front door.

Sec. 3

From Windles to Southampton is a distance of about twenty miles; and the
rain had started to fall when the car, an open one lacking even the poor
protection of a cape hood, had accomplished half the homeward journey.
For the last ten miles Mr. Mortimer had been nursing a sullen hatred for
all created things; and, when entering the house, he came upon Mr.
Bennett hopping about in the hall, endeavouring to detain him and tell
him some long and uninteresting story, his venom concentrated itself
upon his erstwhile friend.

"Oh, get out of the way!" he snapped, shaking off the other's hand.
"Can't you see I'm wet?"

"Wet! Wet!" Mr. Bennett's voice quivered with self-pity. "So am I wet!"

"Father dear," said Billie reprovingly, "you really oughtn't to have
come into the house after bathing without drying yourself. You'll spoil
the carpet."

"I've _not_ been bathing! I'm trying to tell you...."

"Hullo!" said Bream, with amiable innocence, coming in at the tail-end
of the party. "Been having a jolly bathe?"

Mr. Bennett danced with silent irritation, and, striking a bare toe
against the leg of a chair, seized his left foot and staggered into the
arms of Webster, who had been preparing to drift off to the servants'
hall. Linked together, the two proceeded across the carpet in a movement
which suggested in equal parts the careless vigour of the cake-walk and
the grace of the old-fashioned mazurka.

"What the devil are you doing, you fool?" cried Mr. Bennett.

"Nothing, sir. And I should be glad if you would accept my week's
notice," replied Webster calmly.

"What's that?"

"My notice sir, to take effect at the expiration of the current week. I
cannot acquiesce in being cursed and sworn at."

"Oh, go to blazes!"

"Very good, sir." Webster withdrew like a plenipotentiary who has been
handed his papers on the declaration of war, and Mr. Bennett, sprang to
intercept Mr. Mortimer, who had slipped by and was making for the
stairs.

"Mortimer!"

"Oh, what _is_ it?"

"That inf