sed for the purpose of
killing some twelve-and-sixpence worth of poultry, suggests the
disproportionate."

I laughed boisterously, and cried, "Good, good--very good!"

He was the type of man that shudders inwardly at the sound of laughter. I
had the will to slap him on the back, but I thought maybe that would send
him away altogether.

I asked him if he hunted. He replied that fourteen hours' talk a day
about horses, and only about horses tired him, and that in consequence he
had abandoned hunting.

"You fish?" I said.

"I was never sufficiently imaginative," he answered.

"You travel a good deal," I suggested.

He had apparently made up his mind to abandon himself to his fate, for he
turned towards me with a resigned air. An ancient nurse of mine had
always described me as the most "wearing" child she had ever come across.
I prefer to speak of myself as persevering.

"I should go about more," he said, "were I able to see any difference
between one place and another."

"Tried Central Africa?" I inquired.

"Once or twice," he answered. "It always reminds me of Kew Gardens."

"China?" I hazarded.

"Cross between a willow-pattern plate and a New York slum," was his
comment.

"The North Pole?" I tried, thinking the third time might be lucky.

"Never got quite up to it," he returned. "Reached Cape Hakluyt once."

"How did that impress you?" I asked.

"It didn't impress me," he replied.

The talk drifted to women and bogus companies, dogs, literature, and such-
like matters. I found him well informed upon and bored by all.

"They used to be amusing," he said, speaking of the first named, "until
they began to take themselves seriously. Now they are merely silly."

I was forced into closer companionship with "Blase Billy" that autumn,
for by chance a month later he and I found ourselves the guests of the
same delightful hostess, and I came to liking him better. He was a
useful man to have about one. In matters of fashion one could always
feel safe following his lead. One knew that his necktie, his collar, his
socks, if not the very newest departure, were always correct; and upon
social paths, as guide, philosopher, and friend, he was invaluable. He
knew every one, together with his or her previous convictions. He was
acquainted with every woman's past, and shrewdly surmised every man's
future. He could point you out the coal-shed where the Countess of
Glenleman had gambolled in her days of i