of the reply from his club, he set
forth on the walk back to his house.

At five minutes to three, he was at home again. As the clock struck the
hour, he rang the bell. The man-servant appeared, without the dinner.
Benjulia's astonishing amiability--on his holiday--was even equal to
this demand on its resources.

"I ordered roast mutton at three," he said, with terrifying
tranquillity. "Where is it?"

"The dinner will be ready in ten minutes, sir."

"Why is it not ready now?"

"The cook hopes you will excuse her, sir. She is a little behindhand
to-day."

"What has hindered her, if you please?"

The silent servant--on all other occasions the most impenetrable of
human beings--began to tremble. The doctor had, literally, kicked a man
out of the house who had tried to look through the laboratory skylight.
He had turned away a female servant at half an hour's notice, for
forgetting to shut the door, a second time in one day. But what were
these highhanded proceedings, compared with the awful composure which,
being kept waiting for dinner, only asked what had hindered the cook,
and put the question politely, by saying, "if you please"?

"Perhaps you were making love to her?" the doctor suggested, as gently
as ever.

This outrageous insinuation stung the silent servant into speech. "I'm
incapable of the action, sir!" he answered indignantly; "the woman was
reading a story."

Benjulia bent his head, as if in acknowledgment of a highly satisfactory
explanation. "Oh? reading a story? People who read stories are said to
have excitable brains. Should you call the cook excitable?"

"I should, sir! Most cooks are excitable. They say it's the kitchen
fire."

"Do they? You can go now. Don't hurry the cook--I'll wait."

He waited, apparently following some new train of thought which highly
diverted him. Ten minutes passed--then a quarter of an hour then another
five minutes. When the servant returned with the dinner, the master's
private reflections continued to amuse him: his thin lips were still
widening grimly, distended by his formidable smile.

On being carved, the mutton proved to be underdone. At other times, this
was an unpardonable crime in Benjulia's domestic code of laws. All
he said now was, "Take it away." He dined on potatoes, and bread and
cheese. When he had done, he was rather more amiable than ever. He said,
"Ask the cook to come and see me!"

The cook presented herself, with one hand on her palpit