heir brief acquaintanceship.
They alighted and walked down the platform.

"Where are we?" said Ukridge sleepily, opening his eyes. "Yeovil? Not
far now, old horse."

With which remark he closed his eyes again and returned to his
slumbers.

Garnet's eye, roving disconsolately over the carriage, was caught by
something lying in the far corner. It was the criticized "Maneuvers of
Arthur." The girl had left it behind.

What follows shows the vanity that obsesses our young and rising
authors. It did not enter into his mind that the book might have been
left behind of set purpose, as being of no further use to the owner.
It only occurred to him that if he did not act swiftly the lady of the
hair and eyes would suffer a loss beside which the loss of a purse or
a hand bag were trivial.

He acted swiftly.

Five seconds later he was at the end of the platform, flushed but
courteous.

"Excuse me," he said, "I think--"

"Thank you," said the girl.

Garnet made his way back to his carriage.

"They are blue," he said.

THE ARRIVAL

IV

From Axminster to Lyme Regis the line runs through country as pretty
as any that can be found in the island, and the train, as if in
appreciation of this fact, does not hurry over the journey. It was
late afternoon by the time the chicken farmers reached their
destination.

The arrangements for the carrying of luggage at Lyme Regis border on
the primitive. Boxes are left on the platform, and later, when he
thinks of it, a carrier looks in and conveys them down into the valley
and up the hill on the opposite side to the address written on the
labels. The owner walks. Lyme Regis is not a place for the halt and
maimed.

Ukridge led his band in the direction of the farm, which lay across
the valley, looking through woods to the sea. The place was visible
from the station, from which, indeed, standing as it did on the top of
a hill, the view was extensive.

Halfway up the slope on the other side of the valley the party left
the road and made their way across a spongy field, Ukridge explaining
that this was a short cut. They climbed through a hedge, crossed a
stream and another field, and after negotiating a difficult bank
topped with barbed wire, found themselves in a kitchen garden.

Ukridge mopped his forehead and restored his pince-nez to their
original position, from which the passage of the barbed wire had
dislodged them.

"This is the place," he said. "We have come