s was surprised, and rubbed his hand, which had been hurt by the
hearty way in which Meldon shook it.

"Is there," he asked, in a puzzled tone, "anything that I can do for
you?"

"Nothing," said Meldon; "nothing whatever. If there was I'm sure you'd
do it, and I shouldn't hesitate to ask you. But there isn't. I simply
called in to have a chat. You won't mind if I smoke, will you?"

"I never smoke in my office," said Simpkins. "I dislike free and easy
and slipshod ways of doing business."

Meldon filled and lit his pipe.

"You're perfectly right," he said. "There's nothing impresses the
intelligent stranger so unfavourably as the smell of tobacco in an
office when he comes into it in the hope of doing business with a
competent man. I wish you would impress your idea on that subject, and
I may say a good many other subjects, on the people of this town. They
are lamentably deficient in what I may call the etiquette of commercial
life; and yet all these little points count for a lot. You and I know
that."

Simpkins hesitated. He was at first inclined to be angry. Meldon was
smoking vigorously, and his tobacco was of the kind described as
"full-flavoured." But the remarks about the etiquette of business were
certainly sound. Mr. Simpkins really believed that he had a mission to
teach manners and method to the people of Ballymoy.

"Would you mind telling me," he said at last, "who you are?"

"Not in the least," said Meldon; "I shall be quite pleased. At the
same time I think I ought to point out to you that, if you'd been on
speaking terms with Major Kent, you'd have heard all about me weeks
ago, and very likely would have been asked to dinner to meet me last
night. Why have you quarrelled with the poor Major? He's a nice
enough sort of man, and most people find him easy enough to get on
with."

"It was he who quarrelled with me. I had no intention--"

"So it was. I remember that now; something about fishing, wasn't it?
Curious how people will lose their tempers about ridiculous little
trifles. That's the worst of places like this. The people who have
never lived anywhere else become irritable and take offence about
nothing, simply because their minds are cut off from wider interests.
You and I, now, know that no fish in the world, however large, is worth
fighting about. We wouldn't, either of us, mind a bit if some other
fellow came along and hooked the whale which we had marked down as our