Mr. Lenox, "I shall never meet Mr. Bateman in his
presence. Suppose I were to fall against him accidentally--how
perfectly ghastly!"

"No fear of that," said Mr. Amos.

"He's very well, then," said Mr. Lenox, "we must get on, Gregory. We
have still that other address."

"Two pounds ten," said Mr. Amos.

"Oh, no," said Mr. Lenox; "much too dear. Come along, Gregory."

"I'll tell you what I'll do," said Mr. Amos, "though it will be the end
of my friendship with Mr. Bateman. I'll say nothing about the collar
and chain, and take two pounds."

"Too dear," said Mr. Lenox, stepping to the taxi.

"Well, how much will you give?" Mr. Amos asked.

"I'll give you twenty-five shillings as he stands," said Mr. Lenox.

"He's yours," said Mr. Amos.

Mr. Lenox immediately paid the money, and then he went to a small
grocer's near by and bought a bag of biscuits, and with them he and
Gregory fed the famished Diogenes all the way back to Chiswick, and by
the time they reached home he seemed so affectionate with them as never
to have had another master.

Diogenes had come, of course, to stay; but the horse was merely to be
hired. To hire a carriage-horse or a riding-horse is easy enough, but a
cart-horse as strong as a steam-engine is more difficult to find.

Mr. Lenox decided to advertise, and he therefore sent the following
advertisement to the _Daily Telegram:_

"Wanted--To hire for a month at least, an exceedingly powerful, gentle
white horse to draw a caravan. Reply by letter. L., 'The Gables.'
Chiswick."

"There," said Mr. Lenox, as he read it out, "that's as clear as
crystal. No one can misunderstand that."

But, as a matter of fact, people will misunderstand anything; for on
the day the advertisement appeared quite a number of men called at "The
Gables," all leading horses of every size and colour. Kink was kept
busy in getting rid of them, but one man succeeded in finding Robert
unattended, and did all he could to persuade him that a pair of small
skew-bald ponies such as he had brought with him would be far more
useful in a caravan than one large cart-horse.

"Run in and tell your father that, old sport," said he. "Tell him I've
got a pair of skews here as will do him credit, and he shall have the
two for twenty pounds."

"No, no," said Robert; "they're no use at all. We advertised for one
large, strong white horse."

Mr. Crawley was coming away from the house at this moment, and the man
tackled him.

"H