d in his
room and came down a little past ten dressed in morning clothes. He
wandered into the dining-room and found Mrs. Ascott-Smith sitting by the
fire entertaining Lord Frederic, as he went to and from the sideboard in
search of things to eat.

"Good morning," said Mr. Carteret, hoarsely.

Lord Frederic looked around and as he noticed Mr. Carteret's morning
clothes his face showed surprise.

"Hello!" he said, "you had better hurry and change, or you will be late.
We have to start in half an hour to meet Grady."

Mr. Carteret coughed. "I don't think that I can go out to-day. It is a
great disappointment."

"Not going hunting?" exclaimed Mrs. Ascott-Smith. "What is the matter?"

"I have a bad cold," said Mr. Carteret miserably.

"But, my dear fellow," exclaimed Lord Frederic, "it will do your cold a
world of good!"

"Not a cold like mine," said Mr. Carteret.

"But this is the day, don't you know?" said Lord Frederic. "How am I
going to manage things without you?"

"All that you have to do is to meet them at the station and take them to
the meet," said Mr. Carteret. "Everything else has been arranged."

"But I'm awfully disappointed," said Lord Frederic. "I had counted on
you to help, don't you see, and introduce them to Ploversdale. It would
be more graceful for an American to do it than for me. You understand?"

"Yes," said Mr. Carteret, "I understand. It's a great disappointment,
but I must bear it philosophically."

Mrs. Ascott-Smith looked at him sympathetically, and he coughed twice.
"You are suffering," she said. "Lord Frederic, you really must not urge
him to expose himself. Have you a pain here?" she inquired, touching
herself in the region of the pleura.

"Yes," said Mr. Carteret, "it is rather bad, but I daresay that it will
soon be better."

"I am afraid that it may be pneumonia," said his hostess. "You must take
a medicine that I have. They say that it is quite wonderful for
inflammatory colds. I'll send Hodgson for it," and she touched the bell.

"Please, please don't take that trouble," entreated Mr. Carteret.

"But you must take it," said Mrs. Ascott-Smith. "They call it
Broncholine. You pour it in a tin and inhale it or swallow it, I forget
which, but it's very efficacious. They used it on Teddy's pony when it
was sick. The little creature died but that was because they gave it too
much, or not enough, I forget which."

Hodgson appeared and Mrs. Ascott-Smith gave directions about