's,--Black Strand. We're going to move
down there--_now_. I've told the servants.... When you've done your
breakfast, you'd better get Peters to pack your things. The big car's
going to be ready at half-past ten."

Lady Harman reflected.

"To-morrow evening," she said, "I was going out to dinner at Lady
Viping's."

"Not my affair--seemingly," said Sir Isaac with irony. "Well, the car's
going to be ready at half-past ten."

"But that dinner----!"

"We'll think about it when the time comes."

Husband and wife regarded each other.

"I've had about enough of London," said Sir Isaac. "So we're going to
shift the scenery. See?"

Lady Harman felt that one might adduce good arguments against this
course if only one knew of them.

Sir Isaac had a bright idea. He rang.

"Snagsby," he said, "just tell Peters to pack up Lady Harman's
things...."

"_Well!_" said Lady Harman, as the door closed on Snagsby. Her mind was
full of confused protest, but she had again that entirely feminine and
demoralizing conviction that if she tried to express it she would weep
or stumble into some such emotional disaster. If now she went upstairs
and told Peters _not_ to pack----!

Sir Isaac walked slowly to the window, and stood for a time staring out
into the garden.

Extraordinary bumpings began overhead in Sir Isaac's room. No doubt
somebody was packing something....

Lady Harman realized with a deepening humiliation that she dared not
dispute before the servants, and that he could. "But the children----"
she said at last.

"I've told Mrs. Harblow," he said, over his shoulder. "Told her it was a
bit of a surprise." He turned, with a momentary lapse into something
like humour. "You see," he said, "it _is_ a bit of a surprise."

"But what are you going to do with this house?"

"Lock it all up for a bit.... I don't see any sense in living where we
aren't happy. Perhaps down there we shall manage better...."

It emerged from the confusion of Lady Harman's mind that perhaps she had
better go to the nursery, and see how things were getting on there. Sir
Isaac watched her departure with a slightly dubious eye, made little
noises with his teeth for a time, and then went towards the telephone.

In the hall she found two strange young men in green aprons assisting
the under-butler to remove the hats and overcoats and such-like personal
material into a motor-van outside. She heard two of the housemaids
scurrying upstairs. "'Arf an ho