e other. "Don't you bother about me. I shall be quite happy by
myself."

He looked at me with a curious smile and was apparently about to say
something, when Caesar suddenly caught sight of my stockings. These,
though in reality perfectly tasteful, might well come as a surprise to a
young horse, and Caesar bolted down the drive to tell Pompey about it. I
waved to them all from the distance and returned to my breakfast.

After breakfast I lit a pipe and strolled outside. As I stood at the
door drinking in the beauty of the morning I was the victim of a curious
illusion. It seemed to me that outside the front door was the
pony-cart--Joseph in the shafts, the gardener's boy holding the reins,
and by the side of the boy my bag!

"We'll only just have time, sir," said the boy.

"But--but I'm going by the five train," I stammered.

"Well, sir, I shall be over at Newtown this afternoon--with the cart."

I did not like to ask him why, but I thought I knew. It was, I told
myself, to fetch back the horse which Charles was going over to inspect,
the horse to which I had to give up my room that night.

"Very well," I said. "Take the bag now and leave it in the cloak-room.
I'll walk in later." What the etiquette was when your host gave you a
hint by sending your bag to the station and going away himself, I did
not know. But however many bags he packed and however many horses he
inspected, I was not to be moved till the five o'clock train.

Half an hour after my bag was gone I made a discovery. It was that, when
I started walking to the five o'clock train, I should have to start in
pumps....

. . . . .

"My dear Charles," I wrote that night, "it was delightful to see you
this week-end, and I only wish I could have stayed with you longer, but,
as you know, I had to dash up to town by the five train to inspect a
mule. I am sorry to say that a slight accident happened just before I
left you. In the general way, when I catch an afternoon train, I like to
pack my bag overnight, but on this occasion I did not begin until nine
in the morning. This only left me eight hours, and the result was that
in my hurry I packed my shoes by mistake, and had to borrow a pair of
yours in which to walk to the station. _I will bring them down with me
next time I come._"

I may say that they are unusually good shoes, and if Charles doesn't
want me he must at least want them. So I am expecting another invitation
by