bdued kind of blasphemous choke. It filtered into the parlor as
"Orpgh," but Tony did not relax his efforts till the ankle had
disappeared. The next moment Lionel entered the room, followed by the
landlord. The latter gave an astonished grunt as he surveyed Tony, hands
and face smudged like a Christy Minstrel, and even Lionel's breeding
found it hard to restrain a laugh.

"There has been a fall of soot, Mr. Glew," observed Tony blandly. "I
found this broom, and was just going----"

"Lor', sir, don't you trouble," said Glew, scandalized that a guest
could so demean himself. "The servant'll do that presently. I was just
saying to the missus a week ago come Thursday that we should 'ave to get
our chimneys cleaned soon. We'll 'ave to set about it in earnest now,
and no mistake."

"I suppose you send over to Dallingham for a sweep?" suggested Lionel,
sitting down. The landlord chuckled.

"Yes, sir, when the squire's at 'ome. 'E makes us. But when 'e's abroad,
why, we do the old-fashioned way--light a batten of straw and burn the
flue clear."

A slight scuffle proceeding from the chimney seemed to hint that Mr.
Bangs had heard. Could it be that he feared lest they were going to
clean the flue in the old-fashioned way now, or was he merely suffering
from cramp? Whichever it was, he shifted: the noise was unmistakable,
and the fall of more soot made the landlord shake his head.

"I doubt there's a bird got down the chimney," he said, scratching his
chin. "Those jackdaws or young rooks do sometimes. Give me the broom,
sir, and I'll soon have him down."

Tony's hand tightened on the broom.

"Let me," he said suavely. "There's no need for two people to get
black." Without waiting for a reply he approached the fireplace and
thrust his weapon strenuously aloft. It was no time for half measures,
and Tony felt obliged to be as realistic as possible in the interests of
his friend. Realism, however, may be carried to excess (as Mr. Bangs
pointed out later with no little heat), and the fluttering of the
mythical bird would have drawn tears to the eyes of humanitarians.

"It's no good, sir," said the landlord, dismally observing the soot;
"it's out o' reach. I fancy I'd better get that straw and ha' done with
it."

"That's rather too cruel, landlord," said Lionel from his seat. "I don't
like the idea of smothering the poor beast."

"Put it this way, sir," said Glew, who was an amiable fellow; "is it
better to smother it or l