put money on his bird. Now, when a match took place at
some distant town or flying-ground, Ann would naturally be anxious to
learn the result as quickly as possible; and Master Simon, finding
that the suspense affected her cookery, had fallen into the habit of
taking a hamper of carriers to all distant meetings and speeding them
back to "Flowing Source" with tidings of his fortune. Apart from
this office--which they performed well enough--he took no special
pride in them. The offer of a pair of his pet tumblers, worth their
weight in gold, had cost him an effort; and when Mistress Prudence,
ordinarily a clear-headed woman, declared that she preferred
carriers, she could hardly have astonished him more by asking for a
pair of stock-doves.

"Oh, certainly," he answered, and went home and thought it over.
Women were a puzzle; but he had a dim notion that if he could lay
hand on the reason why Mistress Prudence preferred ordinary carriers
to prize tumblers, he would hold the key to some of the secrets of
the sex. He thought it over for three days, during which he smoked
more tobacco than was good for him. At about four o'clock in the
afternoon of the third day, a smile enlarged his face. He set down
his pipe, smacked his thigh, stood up, sat down again, and began to
laugh. He laughed slowly and deliberately--not loudly--for the
greater part of that evening, and woke up twice in the night and
shook the bedclothes into long waves with his mirth.

Next morning he took two carriers from the cote, shut them in a
hamper, and rowed down to Ponteglos with his gift. But Mrs.
Waddilove was not at home. She had started early by van for
Tregarrick (said the waitress at the "Pandora's Box") on business
connected with her husband's will. "No hurry at all," said Master
Simon. He slipped a handful of Indian corn under the lid, and left
the hamper "with his respects."

Then he rowed home, and spent the next two days after his wont; the
only observable difference being the position of his garden chair.
It stood as a rule under the shadow of the broad eaves, but now
Master Simon ordered the tap-boy to carry it out and set it by a
rustic table close to the river's brink, whence, as he smoked, he
could keep comfortable watch upon the pigeon-cote.

"You'll catch a sunstroke," said Ann the cook. "I hope you're not
beginning to forget how to take care of yourself."

"Well, I hope so too," Master Simon answered; but he did not bu