," he said. "We carry our Hollands
with us. Why, Mr. MacWhirter! and Mr. Lonnegan! and--" (I was the
"and"--but he seemed to have forgotten my name.) "Well, this _is_ a
surprise!" Neither the mill-owner nor the curate came within range of
his eyes.

"Where have I been? Well, I'll have to think. We did London for a
week--Savoy for supper--Prince's for luncheon--theatre every night--that
sort of thing. Picked up a couple of Gainsboroughs at Agnew's and some
tapestries belonging to Lord--forget his name--had a letter." (Here
Tommy fumbled in his pocket.) "No, I remember now, I gave it to Sam.
Then we motored to Ravenstock--looked over the Duke's stables--spent the
night with a very decent chap Sam met in the Rockies last year-son of
Lord Wingfall, and--"

The ice was ready now (it was hived in a keg and hidden in the cellar,
and took time to get at), and so was the vermouth and the glasses, all
on a tray.

"No, I'll carry it." This to the barmaid, who wanted to call a waiter.
"I never let anybody attend to this for Sam but myself"--this to us.
"I'll be back in a minute."

In a few moments he returned, picking up the thread of his discourse
with: "Where was I? Oh, yes, at Lord Wingfall's son's. Well, that's
about all. We are on our way now to spend a few days with--" Here he
glanced at the curate and the mill-owner, who were absorbing every word
that fell from his lips. "Some of the gentry in the next county--can't
think of their names--friends of Sam." It became evident now that
neither Mac nor Lonnegan intended introducing him to either of the
Englishmen.

The barmaid pushed a second tray over the counter, and Tommy drew up a
chair and waved us into three others. "Sam is so helpless, you know," he
chatted on. "I can't leave him, really, for an hour. Depends on me for
everything. Funny, isn't it, that a man worth--well, anywhere from forty
to fifty millions of dollars, and made it all himself--should be that
way? But it's a fact. Very simple man, too, in his tastes, when you
know him. Mrs. Lambert and Rosie" (Mac stole a look at Lonnegan at the
familiar use of the last name, but Tommy flowed on) "got tired of the
_Cynthia_--she's a hundred and ninety feet over all, sixteen knots, and
cost a quarter of a million--and wanted Sam to get something bigger.
But the old man held out; wanted to know what I thought of it, and, of
course, I had to say she was all right, and that settled it. Just
the same way with that new hou