ined with Mrs. Bilton's hair, would
make the fortune of The Open Arms.

The coloured lady, therefore, was sent away, disappointed in spite of
the _douceur_ and fair words Mr. Twist gave her; and she was so much
disappointed that they could hear her being it out loud all the way
along the passage and down the stairs, and the nature of her expression
of her disappointment was such that Mr. Twist, as he tried by animated
conversation to prevent it reaching the twins' ears, could only be
thankful after all that Li Koo had been so clever. It did, however,
reach the twins' ears, but they didn't turn a hair because of Uncle
Arthur. They merely expressed surprise at its redness, seeing that it
came out of somebody so black.

Directly after this trip to Los Angeles advertisements began to creep
over the countryside. They crept along the roads where motorists were
frequent and peeped at passing cars round corners and over hedges. They
were taciturn advertisements, and just said three words in big,
straight, plain white letters on a sea-blue ground:

THE OPEN ARMS

People passing in their cars saw them, and vaguely thought it must be
the name of a book. They had better get it. Other people would have got
it. It couldn't be a medicine nor anything to eat, and was probably a
religious novel. Novels about feet or arms were usually religious. A few
considered it sounded a little improper, and as though the book, far
from being religious, would not be altogether nice; but only very proper
people who distrusted everything, even arms took this view.

After a week the same advertisements appeared with three lines added:

THE OPEN ARMS
YES
BUT
WHY? WHERE? WHAT?

and then ten days after that came fresh ones:

THE OPEN ARMS
WILL OPEN
WIDE

On November 20th at Four P.M.

N.B. WATCH THE SIGNPOSTS.

And while the countryside--an idle countryside, engaged almost wholly in
holiday-making and glad of any new distraction--began to be interested
and asked questions, Mr. Twist was working day and night at getting the
thing ready.

All day long he was in Acapulco or out at the cottage, urging, hurrying,
criticizing, encouraging, praising and admonishing. His heart and soul
and brain was in this, his business instincts and his soft domestic
side. His brain, after working at top speed during the day with the
architect, the painter and decorator, the furnisher, the garden expert,
the plumbing expert, the electric-light e