ed! Ingred, old girl! I say, Ingred! Wherever have you taken
yourself off to?" shouted a boyish voice, as its owner, jumping an
obstructing gooseberry bush, tore around the corner of the house from
the kitchen garden on to the strip of rough lawn that faced the windows.
"Hullo! Cuckoo! Coo-ee! _In_-gred!"

"I'm here all the time, so you needn't bawl!" came in resigned tones
from under the shade of a large fuchsia. "You're enough to wake the
dead, Chumps! What is it you want now! It's too hot to go a walk till
after tea. I'm trying to get ten minutes peace and quiet!"

Hereward, otherwise "Chumps," put his feet together in the second
position, flung out his arms in what was intended to be a graceful
attitude, and made a mock bow worthy of the cinema stage.

"Have them by all means, Madam!" he replied in mincing accents. "Your
humble servant has no wish to disturb your ladyship's elegant repose. He
offers a thousand apologies for his unceremonious entrance into your
august presence, and implores you to condescend----_Ow! Stop it, you
brute!_"

Hereward's burst of eloquence was brought to an abrupt end by the
violent onslaught of a fox-terrier puppy which flung itself upon him and
began to worry his ankles with delighted yelps of appreciation.

"Stop it! Keep off, I tell you! I _won't_ be chewed to ribbons!" he
protested, dodging the attacks of the playful but all too sharp teeth,
and catching the little dog by the piece of tarred rope that formed its
collar. "Here, you'll get throttled in a minute if you don't mend your
manners."

"Give him to his auntie, bless his heart!" laughed Ingred, extending
welcoming arms to the fat specimen of puppyhood, and rolling him about
on her knee. "Oh, he _did_ make you dance! You looked so funny! There,
precious! Don't chump auntie's fingers. Go bye-byes now. Snuggle down on
auntie's dress, and----"

"If you've _quite_ finished talking idiotic nonsense to that little
beast," interrupted Hereward sarcastically, "you'll perhaps kindly
oblige me by mentioning whether you're coming or not!"

"Not coming anywhere--too hot!" grunted Ingred, resettling her cushion
under the fuchsia bush.

"Right you are! Please yourself and you'll please me! Though I should
have thought the run to Chatcombe----"

Ingred sprang to her feet, dropping the puppy unceremoniously.

"You don't mean to say Egbert's finished mending the motor bike? You
abominable boy! Why couldn't you tell me so before?"