a small potting concern at Hanbridge. He was virtually beginning
life afresh. But what concerned Sidney and Ella was themselves and
their offspring. They talked incessantly about the infinitesimal
details of their daily existence, and the alterations which they had
made, or meant to make, in the house and garden. And occasionally
Sidney thrummed a tune on the banjo to amuse the infant. Horace had
expected them to be curious about Germany and his life in Germany. But
not a bit! He might have come in from the next street and left them
only yesterday, for all the curiosity they exhibited.

'Shall we go down to the drawing-room and have tea, eh?' said Ella.

'Yes, let's go and kill the fatted calf,' said Sidney.

And strangely enough, inexplicably enough, Horace did feel like a
prodigal.

Sidney went off with his precious banjo, and Ella picked up sundry
belongings without which she never travelled about the house.

'You carry me down-stairs, unky?' the little nephew suggested, with an
appealing glance at his new uncle. 'No,' said Horace, 'I'm dashed if I
do!'

BABY'S BATH

I

Mrs Blackshaw had a baby. It would be an exaggeration to say that the
baby interested the entire town, Bursley being an ancient, blase sort
of borough of some thirty thousand inhabitants. Babies, in fact,
arrived in Bursley at the rate of more than a thousand every year.
Nevertheless, a few weeks after the advent of Mrs Blackshaw's baby,
when the medical officer of health reported to the Town Council that
the births for the month amounted to ninety-five, and that the
birth-rate of Bursley compared favourably with the birth-rates of the
sister towns, Hanbridge, Knype, Longshaw, and Turnhill--when the
medical officer read these memorable words at the monthly meeting of
the Council, and the Staffordshire Signal reported them, and Mrs
Blackshaw perused them, a blush of pride spread over Mrs Blackshaw's
face, and she picked up the baby's left foot and gave it a little peck
of a kiss. She could not help feeling that the real solid foundation of
that formidable and magnificent output of babies was her baby. She
could not help feeling that she had done something for the town--had
caught the public eye.

As for the baby, except that it was decidedly superior to the average
infant in external appearance and pleasantness of disposition, it was,
in all essential characteristics, a typical baby--that is to say, it
was purely sensuous and it liv