room and picked up the receiver. We listened
expectantly.

"Have I got a taxi! My dear fellow, I've got a whole school of them.
Would you like a Renault or a baby grand? What? Oh, I'm afraid I
couldn't send it at once. You see, I've only got one boy, and he's
having his hair cut. I can post it to you, and I should think you'll get
it to-morrow morning. No, I'm not mad. No, I'm not the cab-rank, either.
Well, you should have asked me. Never mind. Let's talk of something
else. I wonder if you're interested in rock-worms.... I beg your
pardon...." Gravely he restored the receiver to its perch. "Not
interested," he added for our information. "He didn't actually say so,
but from the directions he gave concerning them--happily, I may say,
quite impracticable----"

"Talking of telephoning," said Jonah uncertainly, "don't forget we've
got to ring up and say whether we want those tickets."

"So we have," said my sister. "Wednesday week, isn't it? Let's see." She
fell to examining a tiny engagement-book, murmuring to herself as she
deciphered or interpreted the entries.

I continued to survey the street.

It was a dark morning in December, and we were all In the library, where
there was a good fire, warming ourselves preparatory to venturing abroad
and facing the north-east wind which was making London so unpleasant.

The tickets to which Jonah referred would make us free of the Albert
Hall for a ball which promised to surpass all its predecessors in
splendour and discomfort. No one was to be admitted who was not clad in
cloth either of gold or silver, and, while there were to be no intervals
between the dances, a great deal of the accommodation usually reserved
for such revellers as desired rest or refreshment was being converted
into seats to be sold to any who cared to witness a pageant of unwonted
brilliancy. The fact that no one of us had attended a function of this
sort for more than five years, and the excellence of the cause on behalf
of which it was being promoted, were responsible for our inclination to
take the tickets, for, with the exception of Jill, we were not eager to
subscribe to an entertainment which it was not at all certain we should
enjoy.

At length--

"I suppose we'd better take the tickets," I said reflectively. "If we
don't want to go, we needn't use them."

"Oh, we must use them," said Daphne; "and we've got nothing on on
Wednesday, as far as I can see."

Berry cleared his throat.

"It is