have been
my poor assistance, it would have been rendered with a willing heart.
But there!" he sighed--"It may not be. The Bananas will never know,
never realize how---- By the way, who are the Bananas?"

"The Bananas?" said I. "Surely you know the--"

"Weren't at Ascot, were they?"

"Not in the Enclosure. No. The bold, bad Bananas are in many ways an
engaging race. Indeed, some of the manners and customs which they
affect are of a quite peculiar interest. Let us look, brother, for a
moment, at their clothing. At the first blush--I use the word
advisedly--it would seem that, like the fruit from which they take
their name--"

"I thought you'd better do some tricks," said Daphne, throwing a dark
look in my direction.

"Of course," I said; "the very thing. I've always been so good at
tricks."

"I mean it," said Daphne.

"Of course you do. What about the confidence trick? Can any lady
oblige me with a public-house?"

"She means trick-cycling, stupid," said Berry. "Riding backwards on
one wheel while you count the ball-bearings."

"Look here," I said, "if Berry could have come and smoked a cigarette,
I wouldn't have minded trying to flick the ash off it with a
hunting-whip."

"Pity about that golf," mused Berry. "And you might have thrown knives
round me afterwards. As it is, you'll have to recite."

In a few telling sentences I intimated that I would do nothing of the
kind.

"I will appear," I said at last, "I will appear and run round
generally, but I promise nothing more."

"Nonsense," said my sister. "I have promised, and I'm not going to let
you break my word. You are going to do something definite."

"Desperate?"

"Definite. You have three days in which to get ready. There's Jill
calling me. We're going to run over to Barley to whip up the Ashton
crowd. D'you think we've enough petrol?"

"I don't even care," said I.

Daphne laughed softly. Then: "I must go," she said, getting up. "Give
me a cigarette and tell me if you think this dress'll do. I'm going to
change my shoes."

"If," said I, producing my cigarette-case, "if you were half as nice as
you invariably look--"

"That's a dear," she said, taking a cigarette. "And now, good-bye."

I watched her retreating figure gloomily.

Berry began to recite 'We are Seven.'

Thursday morning broke cloudless and brilliant. I saw it break.
Reluctantly, of course; I am not in the habit of rising at cock-crow.
But on this