doing?"

"We can simply tell them we have been temporarily occupying exalted
positions in a foreign country which we are not at liberty to mention,"
suggested Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson hopefully.

"We _could_," he said; "and the reply we should get would probably be
'Rats.' They might put it more politely--but that's what it would amount
to. Believe me, you'll never make people here swallow you and the
governor as the late King and Queen of Fairyland--it's a jolly sight too
thick! Besides, there's nothing particular in what we've done there to
brag about--what?"

"_I_ at least have nothing to reproach myself with," said his mother
virtuously. "Still I agree with you, Clarence, that perhaps it _would_
be better if we could give some account of ourselves which would sound a
little less improbable."

"We shall have to invent one. And as soon as we've done breakfast I vote
we put our heads together and fake something up. But, whatever it is, we
must all remember to stick to it!"

And after long and strenuous cogitation, the Stimpson family managed to
construct a fairly plausible story of an unexpected summons to a remote
part of the world, in which they were obliged by circumstances to remain
without any facilities for informing their friends of their situation.

There was one danger which Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson foresaw. At any time
she might encounter the Duchess of Gleneagles or Lady Muscombe in
Society. However, she decided that the risk was almost negligible. After
all, their respective circles could not be said to intersect and, if she
ever _should_ come across either of these distinguished ladies, it would
be easy to deny all recollection of ever having met them before.

And thus reassured, she was able to support the official version of the
family adventures so whole-heartedly that she ended by accepting it as
the only authentic one.

Ruby, it is true, confided a widely different account in secret to one
or two of her most intimate friends.

But Ruby's story met with the fate that is only too certain to befall
this veracious and absolutely unexaggerated narrative--nobody was ever
found to believe a single word of it!

EPILOGUE

The re-appearance of the Wibberley-Stimpsons, coupled with the
circumstantial explanations they gave of their mysterious absence
abroad, provided their friends and neighbours with very nearly the
proverbial nine days' wonder. It might have done so even longer, but for
that