, Mr. Gupperduck, I'm sorry to say," volunteered
Mrs. Bindle.

Mr. Gupperduck regarded Bindle as if Mrs. Bindle had said he was the
"Missing Link."

"Mr. Bindle," he said earnestly, "have you ever thought of the other
world?"

"Thought of the other world!" Bindle exclaimed. "If you lived with
Mrs. B., you wouldn't 'ave much time for thinkin' of anythink else.
She's as dotty about 'eaven as an 'en over a 'shop-egg,' an' as for
'Earty, that's my brother-in-law, well, 'Earty gets my goat when 'e
starts about 'eaven an' angels."

"I fear you speak lightly of serious things, Mr. Bindle," said Mr.
Gupperduck harshly. "Think of when the trumpet shall sound
incorruptible and----!"

"Think o' when the all-clear bugle sounds in Fulham," responded
Bindle.

Mr. Gupperduck looked at Mrs. Bindle in horror.

"I'm a special, you know," explained Bindle. "I got to be on the
listen for that bugle after the air-raids. My! don't they jest nip
back into their little beds again, feelin' 'ow brave they've all
been."

Mr. Gupperduck seemed to come to the conclusion that Bindle was
hopeless. For the next half-hour he devoted himself to conversing
with Mrs. Bindle about "the message" he was engaged in delivering.

"You plays, don't you?" enquired Bindle, as Mr. Gupperduck rose.

"I am very fond of my accordion," replied Mr. Gupperduck.

"I suppose you couldn't give us a tune?" ventured Bindle.

"Not to-night, Mr. Bindle," said Mr. Gupperduck. "I have a lot to do
to-morrow." Then, as if suddenly remembering his pose, he added,
"There is the Lord's work to be done on the morrow, and His servant
hath need of rest."

Bindle stared. Mrs. Bindle regarded her lodger with admiration
tinctured with awe. When Mr. Gupperduck could not call to mind an
appropriate passage from the Scriptures, he invented one.

"I'm sorry," remarked Bindle, as Mr. Gupperduck moved towards the
door. "I wanted you to play a thing I picked up at The Granville the
other night. It was a rare good song, 'If You Squeeze Me Tighter,
Jimmie, I Shall Scream.' I can whistle it if----" but Mr. Gupperduck
was gone.

Then the storm burst.

"You're a disgrace to any respectable 'ome, Joseph Bindle, that you
are," Mrs. Bindle broke out as soon as Mr. Gupperduck's bedroom door
was heard to close.

"Me?" enquired Bindle in obvious surprise.

"What must he think of us?" demanded Mrs. Bindle. "You with your lewd
and blasphemous talk."

"Wot 'ave I done now?" enquired