to be considered an art are vitiated by the mercenary
element that qualifies triumphs. On the whole it seems to be most justly
ranked as sport, a sport for which no rules are at present formulated,
and of which the prizes are distributed in an extremely informal manner.
It was this informality of burglary that led to the regrettable
extinction of two promising beginners at Hammerpond Park.

The stakes offered in this affair consisted chiefly of diamonds and
other personal _bric-a-brac_ belonging to the newly married Lady
Aveling. Lady Aveling, as the reader will remember, was the only
daughter of Mrs. Montague Pangs, the well-known hostess. Her marriage to
Lord Aveling was extensively advertised in the papers, the quantity and
quality of her wedding presents, and the fact that the honeymoon was to
be spent at Hammerpond. The announcement of these valuable prizes
created a considerable sensation in the small circle in which Mr. Teddy
Watkins was the undisputed leader, and it was decided that, accompanied
by a duly qualified assistant, he should visit the village of Hammerpond
in his professional capacity.

Being a man of naturally retiring and modest disposition, Mr. Watkins
determined to make his visit _incog_, and, after due consideration of
the conditions of his enterprise, he selected the role of a landscape
artist, and the unassuming surname of Smith. He preceded his assistant,
who, it was decided, should join him only on the last afternoon of his
stay at Hammerpond. Now the village of Hammerpond is perhaps one of the
prettiest little corners in Sussex; many thatched houses still survive,
the flint-built church, with its tall spire nestling under the down, is
one of the finest and least restored in the county, and the beech-woods
and bracken jungles through which the road runs to the great house are
singularly rich in what the vulgar artist and photographer call "bits."
So that Mr. Watkins, on his arrival with two virgin canvases, a
brand-new easel, a paint-boy, portmanteau, an ingenious little ladder
made in sections; (after the pattern of that lamented master, Charles
Peace), crowbar, and wire coils, found himself welcomed with effusion
and some curiosity by half a dozen other brethren of the brush. It
rendered the disguise he had chosen unexpectedly plausible, but it
inflicted upon him a considerable amount of aesthetic conversation for
which he was very imperfectly prepared.

"Have you exhibited very much?" s