e man was inexorable. Captain Cai gave up resistance, and the pair
descended the hill together towards Mr Benny's shop.

Young Mr Benny, "S. Benny, Gents' Outfitter," had suffered the
misfortune to be christened Shakespeare without inheriting any of the
literary aspirations to which that name bore witness. It was, in any
event, a difficult name to live up to, and so incongruous with this
youth in particular that, as he grew up, his acquaintances abbreviated
it by consent to Shake; and, again, when, after serving an
apprenticeship with a pushing firm in Exeter, he returned to open a
haberdashery shop in his native town, it had been reduced, for business
purposes, to a bare initial.

But it is hard to escape heredity. Albeit to young Mr Benny pure
literature made no appeal, and had even been summarised by him as
"footle," in the business of advertising he developed a curious literary
twist. He could not exhibit a new line of goods without inventing an
arresting set of labels for it; and upon these labels (executed with his
own hands in water-colour upon cardboard) he let play a fancy almost
Asiatic. Not content with mere description, such as "_Neck-wear in
Up-to-date Helios_" or "_Braces, Indispensable_," he assailed the coy
purchaser with appeals frankly personal, such as "_You passed us
Yesterday, but We Hit you this time_," or (of pyjamas) "_What! You
don't Tell us You Go to Bed like your Grandfather_," or (of a collar)
"_If you Admire Lord Rosebery, Now is Your Time_."

Captain Cai wanted a hat. "I be just returned from foreign," he
explained; "and this here head-gear o' mine--"

Young Mr Benny smiled with a smile that deprecated his being drawn into
criticism. "We keep ahead of the Germans yet, sir,--in some respects.
Is it Captain Hocken I have the pleasure of addressin'?"

"Now, how did he know that?" Captain Cai murmured.

"Why, by your hat," answered Mr Philp with readiness.

"You'll be wanting something more nautical, Captain? Something yachty,
if I may suggest. . . . I've a neat thing here in yachting caps."
Mr Benny selected and displayed one, turning it briskly in his hands.
"The _Commodore_. There's a something about that cap, sir,--a what
shall I say?--a distinction. Or, if you prefer a straight up-and-down
peak, what about the _Squadron_ here? A little fuller in the crown,
you'll observe; but that"--with a flattering glance--"would suit you.
You'd carry it off."

"Better have it full