d from the wall, and its clothes distributed
about the room; the wardrobe and cupboards stood open: every drawer in
the room was on the floor: our clothing had been flung, like soiled
linen, into corners: my wife's dressing-case had been forced, and now
lay open, face downward, upon the carpet, while its contents sprawled
upon a mattress: a chair had fallen backwards into the empty
cabin-trunk, and the edge of a sheet had caught on one of its upturned
legs....

"Adele! Boy!" The swish of a skirt, and there was my sister behind
us. "Our room's been---- Good Heavens, yours is the same! Whatever's
the meaning of it?"

Within three minutes two managers and three clerks were on the scene.
To do them justice, they were genuinely perturbed. Fresh rooms--a
magnificent suite--were put at our disposal: under our own eyes our
belongings were gathered into sheets and carried to our new quarters:
maids were summoned and placed at the girls' service: valets were sent
for: the dressing-case was sent to be repaired: we were begged at our
convenience to report whether there were any valuables we could not
find, and over and over again we were assured that the management would
not rest until the thieves were taken: jointly and severally we were
offered profound apologies for so abominable an outrage.

Berry and Jonah, who had been taking the cars to the garage, arrived in
the midst of the removal.

Upon the circumstances being laid before my brother-in-law, he seemed
for some time to be deprived of the power of speech, and it was only
upon being shown the contents of a sheet which had just been conveyed
by two valets into his wife's bedroom that he at last gave tongue.

Drawing a pair of dress trousers from beneath a bath towel, a pair of
brogues, and a box of chocolates, he sobbed aloud.

"You all," he said brokenly, "do know these trousers: I remember the
first time ever I did put them on; 'twas on a summer's evening, in the
Park...."

With one accord and some asperity my sister and I requested him to
desist.

"All right," he said. "But why worry? I know there's nothing valuable
gone, because in that case I should have been told long ago. We've
been shocked and inconvenienced, of course; but, to balance it, we've
got a topping suite, a private sitting-room thrown in, and a whole
fleet of bottle-washers in attendance, all stamping to wash and iron
and brush our clothes as they've never been brushed before. Jonah's
a