ot hold ourselves responsible for
the picture, unless you can produce a receipt from us proving that
it reached us.

We are, Yours obediently,

_pp_. THE FERNDALE GALLERY.

J.S.

The last paragraph in their letter gave me the impression that they
knew they had the picture but had mislaid it. Meanwhile Panmore seemed
so hot on it and I was so badly hit by the War that I thought I would
have another shot at recovering it. So I addressed the Gallery as
follows:--

DEAR SIRS,--Thanks for your letter, and in reply I should be
obliged if you could get another search party out. I have found
a receipt for the picture, signed with a name that might, if
straightened out, be James Langford.

My friend is getting quite excited about it, and he is the sort
of person one wants to humour. He is a Lieut.-Colonel, an O.B.E.,
and, what is more important still, one of the feoffees of
Buckley's Hospital (a fifteenth-century foundation here), and
whatever a feoffee may be he is not the kind of man to toy with in
a small town like this.

I forgot to mention that there is an inn on the left of the
picture, and a girl coming out of it carrying, perhaps, a
bran-mash for the horse or some Government dope for the man, and
there are some hens, all fully regardant and expectant, at her
feet.

Hoping to hear in the course of a post or two that you have found
the painting,

I am, Yours anxiously,

THEOPHILUS B. PIPER-CARY.

P.S.--Don't forget there's a cow in the background; a red cow.

Three days later I received a picture (not mine) from the Gallery with
this letter:--

DEAR SIR,--After a most exhaustive search we have found and send
herewith what we believe to be your picture, though it does not
quite answer to your description. It is, however, the only one of
which we do not appear to have any record.

Our Mr. Langford seems likely to be abroad for some months, so
unless you will accept this picture in settlement of the matter we
do not see any present way out of the difficulty.

Confident that, if it is not yours, it is at least just as good,
we trust that you will agree to cry quits.

We are, Yours obediently,

_pp._ THE FERNDALE GALLERY.

J.S.

Why they should feel sure it was just as good, unless they remembered
my picture, wasn't very clear, but evidently the receipt h