on the grounds, but when I was assured by experts that Tudor
architecture was not considered to be of surpassing merit and I could
find in addition no other advantageous site, I ordered its removal.

I called in the best architects for consultation, but my own artistic
and practical sense, as they themselves were quick to acknowledge,
furnished the basis for the beautiful mansion I put up. Moved by
nostalgic memories of my lost Southland I built a great and ample
bungalow of some sixty rooms--stucco, topped with asbestos tile. Since
the Spanish motif natural to this form would have been out of place in
England and therefore in bad taste, I had timbers set in the stucco,
although of course they performed no function but that of decoration,
the supports being framework which was not visible.

It was delightful and satisfying to come into the spacious and cozy
livingroom, filled with overstuffed easychairs and comfortable couches,
warmed by the most efficient of centralheating systems or to use one of
the perfectly appointed bathrooms whose every fixture was the best money
could buy and recall the dank stone floors and walls leading up to a
mammoth and--from a thermal point of view--perfectly useless fireplace
flanked by the coatsofarms of deadandgone gentry who were content to
shuffle out on inclement mornings to answer nature's calls in chilly
outhouses.

So large and commodious an establishment required an enormous staff of
servants, which in turn called for a housekeeper and a steward to
supervise their activities, for as I have observed many times, the
farther down one goes on the wagescale the more it is necessary to hire
a highsalaried executive to see that the wage is earned.

I cannot say in general that I ever learned to distinguish between one
retainer and another, except of course my personal manservant and
Burlet, the headbutler whom I hired right from under the nose of the
Marquis of Arpers--his lordship being unable to match my offer. But in
spite of the confusion caused by such a multiplicity of menials, I one
day noticed an undergardener whose face was tantalizingly familiar. He
touched his cap respectfully as I approached, but I had the curious
feeling that it was a taught gesture and not one which came naturally to
him.

"Have you been here long, my good man?" I asked, still trying to place
him.

"No, sir," he answered, "about two weeks."

"Funny. I'm almost certain Ive noticed you before."

He