, and it is inhabited, when
I am in Europe, about once a fortnight. You know the river name for it?
'Timothy's Folly!"'

"But what on earth made you build it, so long as you don't care to live
there?" Francis enquired.

Sir Timothy smiled reflectively.

"Well," he explained, "I like sometimes to entertain, and I like to
entertain, when I do, on a grand scale. In London, if I give a
party, the invitations are almost automatic. I become there a very
insignificant link in the chain of what is known as Society, and Society
practically helps itself to my entertainment, and sees that everything
is done according to rule. Down here things are entirely different. An
invitation to The Walled House is a personal matter. Society has nothing
whatever to do with my functions here. The reception-rooms, too, are
arranged according to my own ideas. I have, as you may have heard, the
finest private gymnasium in England. The ballroom and music-room and
private theatre, too, are famous."

"And do you mean to say that you keep that huge place empty?" Francis
asked curiously.

"I have a suite of rooms there which I occasionally occupy," Sir Timothy
replied, "and there are always thirty or forty servants and attendants
of different sorts who have their quarters there. I suppose that my
daughter and I would be there at the present moment but for the fact
that we own this cottage. Both she and I, for residential purposes,
prefer the atmosphere there."

"I scarcely wonder at it," Francis agreed.

They were surrounded now by various quadrupeds. As well as the horses,
half-a-dozen of which were standing patiently by Sir Timothy's side,
several dogs had made their appearance and after a little preliminary
enthusiasm had settled down at his feet. He leaned over and whispered
something in the ear of the mare who had come first. She trotted off,
and the others followed suit in a curious little procession. Sir Timothy
watched them, keeping his head turned away from Francis.

"You recognise the mare the third from the end?" he pointed out. "That
is the animal I bought in Covent Garden. You see how she has filled
out?"

"I should never have recognised her," the other confessed.

"Even Nero had his weaknesses," Sir Timothy remarked, waving the dogs
away. "My animals' quarters are well worth a visit, if you have time.
There is a small hospital, too, which is quite up to date."

"Do any of the horses work at all?" Francis asked.

Sir Timoth