he mother of Max, with the usual
feminine excuse for the darling scapegrace. "When she's gone he will
forget all about her, as he always does."

This speech was an unlucky one.

"Yes, that's just what I complain of, that he always forgets," said he,
turning sharply upon his wife. "If he would stick to anything or to
anybody for so much as a week, or a day, or an hour, I shouldn't mind so
much. But he isn't man enough for that. As soon as this girl's out of
the house, he'll be looking about for another one."

"I'm sure it wasn't his fault that she came here at all," persisted Mrs.
Wedmore, who never opposed her husband except in the interest of her
son. "And I'm sure you can't blame him for doing what he could for his
friend, even if he does put us to a little inconvenience. After all,
Dudley's been like a son to you for a great many years--"

"That's just what I complain of--that he's so like a son," interrupted
her husband. "That is to say, he has brought upon us no end of worry and
bother, and a bill for five guineas for this pleasant little drive down
from London."

"Well, how could we refuse to take him in?"

"How did he get into the mess?"

"What mess?"

"That's what I want to know, too--what mess? I am told he fell into the
water, striking his head against the side of a bridge, or of a church,
or it doesn't matter what, as he fell. They haven't thought it worth
while to make up a good story. But whether he was drunk, or whether he
was escaping from the police, or what he was doing, nobody seems to
know. If I'd been consulted, if I hadn't been treated as a cipher in the
matter, he should have driven straight back to London again with the
girl, and with Max himself."

Mrs. Wedmore thought it better to say nothing to this, but to let her
husband simmer down. These ferocious utterances came from the lips only,
as she very well knew, and might safely be disregarded.

Fortunately his attention was diverted at this point by the arrival of
the doctor, who had been out on his rounds when they first sent for him.

Rather relieved to have a fresh person to pour out his complaints to,
Mr. Wedmore hastened to give his old friend a somewhat confused account
of the patient's arrival and condition, in which "cheap, ready-made
clothes," "a bill for five guineas," "a baggage of a girl" and "the
police" were the prominent items.

But as for any details concerning the patient's state of health and the
reasons for his n