but I'm a friend of the Major's and he trusts
me--I think you ought to stop talking about the trifle I owe you. I'm
sick of the subject."

"You're not near as sick of it as I am," said Doyle, "and I don't know
that I want the filly."

"You do want her," said Dr. O'Grady. "You want anything that you can
make money out of. Hullo! Who's that?"

Mr. Billing, carrying his camera, appeared at the door of the hotel.

"It's the American gentleman that owns the motorcar," said Doyle. "Tell
me this now, doctor. Did ever you hear of General John Regan?"

"Of course I did," said Dr. O'Grady. "He's a well-known millionaire,
just the sort of man to be touring the country in a big motor. Go you
off now and settle with the Major about the filly. I'll entertain the
General for you."

"For God's sake, doctor, be careful what you say," said Doyle in a
whisper. "The General's dead this twenty years and it's a statue there
ought to be to his memory. So that fellow's after saying, any way."

"Oh, all right," said Dr. O'Grady. "It's just the same thing. I'll
manage. You go and settle with the Major."

He approached Mr. Billing jauntily.

"Delighted to meet you, sir," he said. "Delighted to welcome you
to Ballymoy. You'll find it a most interesting locality. My name is
O'Grady, Lucius O'Grady, M.D."

Mr. Billing took off his hat, laid down his camera, and shook hands with
the doctor.

"Mine is Billing," he said. "Horace P. Billing. I come from America. My
object in visiting Ballymoy----"

"The poor old General, of course," said Dr. O'Grady. "We thought you'd
be sure to come sooner or later. Your uncle, wasn't he, or great uncle?
I forget."

Mr. Billing seemed surprised, very much surprised. He dropped Dr.
O'Grady's hand abruptly and stared at him. Then he recovered himself
with an effort.

"I can't claim relationship with that great man," he said.

"That's a pity," said Dr. O'Grady.

"I'm his biographer," said Mr. Billing. "I'm engaged in writing the
first complete life of the founder of the Bolivian Republic. I have come
to Ballymoy----"

"You couldn't possibly have come to a better place."

Dr. O'Grady was not a literary man, but he had an idea that people who
write books seek out quiet places in which they are not likely to be
over excited while engaged in their trying work. Ballymoy seemed to him
a suitable place for anyone engaged in writing a biography.

"It surprises me some," said Mr. Billing, "to find that you