ept from hearsay. I shall go with you to England, Mr. Quest."

2.

The Professor rose from his seat in some excitement as the carriage passed
through the great gates of Hamblin Park. He acknowledged with a smile the
respectful curtsey of the woman who held it open.

"You have now an opportunity, my dear Mr. Quest," he said, "of
appreciating one feature of English life not entirely reproducible in your
own wonderful country. I mean the home life and surroundings of our
aristocracy. You see these oak trees?" he went on, with a little wave of
his hand. "They were planted by my ancestors in the days of Henry the
Eighth. I have been a student of tree life in South America and in the
dense forests of Central Africa, but for real character, for splendour of
growth and hardiness, there is nothing in the world to touch the Ashleigh
oaks."

"They're some trees," the criminologist admitted.

"You notice, perhaps, the smaller ones, which seem dwarfed. Their tops
were cut off by the Lord of Ashleigh on the day that Lady Jane Grey was
beheaded. Queen Elizabeth heard of it and threatened to confiscate the
estate. Look at the turf, my friend. Ages have gone to the making of that
mossy, velvet carpet."

"Where's the house?" Quest enquired.

"A mile farther on yet. The woods part and make a natural avenue past the
bend of the river there," the Professor pointed out. "Full of trout, that
river, Quest. How I used to whip that stream when I was a boy!"

They swept presently round a bend in the avenue. Before them on the
hill-side, surrounded by trees and with a great walled garden behind, was
Hamblin House. Quest gave vent to a little exclamation of wonder as he
looked at it. The older part and the whole of the west front was
Elizabethan, but the Georgian architect entrusted with the task of
building a great extension had carried out his work in a manner almost
inspired. Lines and curves, sweeping everywhere towards the same
constructive purpose, had been harmonised by the hand of time into a most
surprising and effectual unity. The criminologist, notwithstanding his
unemotional temperament, repeated his exclamation as he resumed his place
in the carriage.

"This is where you've got us beaten," he admitted. "Our country places are
like gew-gaw palaces compared to this. Makes me kind of sorry," he went on
regretfully, "that I didn't bring Lenora along."

The Professor shook his head.

"You were very wise," he said. "My brother