inement that Art had achieved or wealth had bought between 1851 and
1878. And everything reeked of varnish.

'Now!' she opened a baize door, and pointed down a long corridor flanked
with more Gothic doors. 'This was where we used to--to patch 'em up.
You've heard of us. Mrs. Godfrey told you in the garden the day I got
Harvey given me. I'--she drew in her breath--'I live here by myself, and
I have a very large income. Come back, Harvey.'

He had tiptoed down the corridor, as rigid as ever, and was sitting
outside one of the shut doors. 'Look here!' she said, and planted
herself squarely in front of me. 'I tell you this because you--you've
patched up Harvey, too. Now, I want you to remember that my name is
Moira. Mother calls me Marjorie because it's more refined; but my real
name is Moira, and I am in my thirty-fourth year.'

'Very good,' I said. 'I'll remember all that.'

'Thank you.' Then with a sudden swoop into the humility of an abashed
boy--''Sorry if I haven't said the proper things. You see--there's
Harvey looking at us again. Oh, I want to say--if ever you want anything
in the way of orchids or goldfish or--or anything else that would be
useful to you, you've only to come to me for it. Under the will I'm
perfectly independent, and we're a long-lived family, worse luck!' She
looked at me, and her face worked like glass behind driven flame. 'I may
reasonably expect to live another fifty years,' she said.

'Thank you, Miss Sichliffe,' I replied. 'If I want anything, you may be
sure I'll come to you for it.' She nodded. 'Now I must get over to
Mittleham,' I said.

'Mr. Attley will ask you all about this.' For the first time she laughed
aloud. 'I'm afraid I frightened him nearly out of the county. I didn't
think, of course. But I dare say he knows by this time he was wrong. Say
good-bye to Harvey.'

'Good-bye, old man,' I said. 'Give me a farewell stare, so we shall know
each other when we meet again.'

The dog looked up, then moved slowly toward me, and stood, head bowed to
the floor, shaking in every muscle as I patted him; and when I turned, I
saw him crawl back to her feet.

That was not a good preparation for the rampant boy-and-girl-dominated
lunch at Mittleham, which, as usual, I found in possession of everybody
except the owner.

'But what did the dromedary say when you brought her beast back?' Attley
demanded.

'The usual polite things,' I replied. 'I'm posing as the nice doggy
friend nowadays