Mr. Lenox hastily. "How much is he?"

"Three pounds," said Mr. Amos.

"Oh, come!" said Mr. Lenox. "Not for a public-house dog."

"Not a penny less," said Mr. Amos.

CHAPTER 5

DIOGENES AND MOSES

The Sea View disappointment being so keenly felt, Mrs. Avory decided to
give the children an extra holiday of a fortnight at once, in which to
taste the delights of the caravan, and meanwhile she would herself go
down to the Isle of Wight to try to find other rooms; and it was
arranged that Mary Rotheram and one of her brothers and Horace Campbell
should be squeezed into the party too. Jack and William Rotheram
therefore tossed up for it, and Jack won.

This suddenness, as we shall see, was very fortunate, but it threw Mr.
Lenox into a state of perspiration quite strange to him.

"My dear Jenny," he said to Mrs. Avory, "how am I to get a horse to do
you credit, if you hurry me so? A horse is an animal requiring the most
careful study. Each one of its four legs needs separate consideration.
I should have liked some weeks of thought. The dog, too. Just as there
is only one satisfactory horse in the world for each family, so is
there only one satisfactory dog; and you ask me to get both in a few
minutes."

He lay back and fanned himself.

Then he pulled two pennies from his pocket and gave them to Gregory,
and told him to go to the station bookstall and bring back the
_Exchange_ and _Mart._

The _Exchange_ and _Mart,_ as perhaps you may not know, is, without any
exaggeration, the most delightful paper in the world. It contains
nothing that one dislikes to read about, such as accidents, murders,
suicides, politics, and criticisms of concerts; it contains nothing
whatever of such things, while, on the other hand, it is packed with
matters of real interest. It tells you who has dogs for sale, and
rabbits for sale, and magic-lanterns for sale, and cameras for sale,
and bicycles for sale, and guinea-pigs for sale,--all at a
bargain,--and it tells you also who wants to buy rabbits and cameras
and guinea-pigs; and it also tells you who wants to exchange rabbits
for a gun, or a dog for a fishing-rod, or a gramophone for a parrot.

Gregory brought the paper back, and Mr. Lenox at once turned to the
section entitled "The Kennel," and then to the subsection "Retrievers,"
and he found the names of three persons who wished to sell wonderful
specimens of that breed.

Two were in London and one was at Harrow.

Gregory ther