," said Berry. "And look sharp about it. Time's getting on, and I
should just hate to be late for dinner. Or shall we be reckless and take
a table at Lockhart's?"

We drove home in a state of profound melancholy.

Awaiting our arrival was a "service" communication upon a buff sheet,
bluntly addressed to "Pleydell."

It was the official death-warrant of an unworthy trust.

_Sir,_

_I beg leave to inform you that your telegram handed in at the Grosvenor
Street Post Office at 10.2 a.m. on the 26th June addressed to Reply paid
Hamilton Smythe Fair Lawns Torquay has not been delivered for the reason
indicated below._

_ADDRESS NOT KNOWN._

_I am, Sir,_

_Your obedient Servant,_

_W.B.,_

_Postmaster._

CHAPTER VIII

HOW JILL SLEPT UNDISTURBED, AND NOBBY ATTENDED CHURCH PARADE.

"What d'you do," said Berry, "when you want to remember something?"

"Change my rings," said Daphne. "Why?"

"I only wondered. D'you find that infallible?"

My sister nodded.

"Absolutely," she said. "Of course, I don't always remember what I've
changed them for, but it shows me there's something I've forgotten."

"I see. Then you've only got to remember what that is, and there you
are. Why don't I wear rings?"

"Change your shoes instead," said I drowsily. "Or wear your waistcoat
next to your skin. Then, whenever you want to look at your watch, you'll
have to undress. That'll make you think."

"You go and change your face," said Berry. "Don't wait for something to
remember. Just go and do it by deed-poll. And then advertise it in _The
Times_. You'll get so many letters of gratitude that you'll get tired of
answering them."

Before I could reply to this insult--

"I suppose," said my sister, "this means that you can't remember
something which concerns me and really matters."

In guilty silence her husband prepared a cigar for ignition with the
utmost care. At length--

"I wouldn't go as far as that," he said. "But I confess that at the back
of my mind, in, as it were, the upper reaches of my memory, there is a
faint ripple of suggestion for which I cannot satisfactorily account.
Now, isn't that beautifully put?"

With a look of contempt, Daphne returned to the digestion of a letter
which she had that morning received from the United States. Reflectively
Berry struck a match and lighted his cigar. I followed the example of
Jill and began to doze.

With the exception of Jonah, who was in Somerset with the Fair