250

He wrote, I expect you to come back to England and marry me 254

It was endlessly wearisome 256

The cross-eyed Q.C. begged him to be very careful 262

I was a grotesque failure 265

The jury smiled 270

The question requires no answer, he said 272

I reeled where I sat 279

The messenger entered 284

He took a long, careless stare at me 291

I beckoned a porter 293

You can't get out here, he said, crustily 296

We told our tale 298

I have found a clue 303

I've held the fort by main force 306

Never! he answered. Never! 308

We shall have him in our power 312

Victory! 316

You wished to see me, sir? 320

Well, this is a fair knock-out, he ejaculated 325

Harold, your wife has bested me 329

I

THE ADVENTURE OF THE CANTANKEROUS OLD LADY

On the day when I found myself with twopence in my pocket, I naturally
made up my mind to go round the world.

It was my stepfather's death that drove me to it. I had never seen my
stepfather. Indeed, I never even thought of him as anything more than
Colonel Watts-Morgan. I owed him nothing, except my poverty. He married
my dear mother when I was a girl at school in Switzerland; and he
proceeded to spend her little fortune, left at her sole disposal by my
father's will, in paying his gambling debts. After that, he carried my
dear mother off to Burma; and when he and the climate between them had
succeeded in killing her, he made up for his appropriations at the
cheapest rate by allowing me just enough to send me to Girton. So, when
the Colonel died, in the year I was leaving college, I did not think it
necessary to go into mourning for him. Especially as he chose the
precise moment whe