o my mind, I can tell yer; for when I saw Mark 'ere
with that rug, I somehow got it into my mind that _he_ was goin' to
make a run for it. And there 'ud be a pretty thing for all
parties--hey?'

'Your nephew very kindly came to see me off, that's all,' said
Holroyd.

'Oh,' said Uncle Solomon, with a tolerant wave of his hand, 'I don't
object to that, yer know, I've no objections to that--not that I don't
think (between ourselves, mind yer) that he mightn't p'raps he better
employed just now;' and here, to Mark's horror, he winked with much
humorous suggestiveness at both of them.

'That is very likely,' said Holroyd.

'What I mean by saying he might be "better employed,"' continued Uncle
Solomon, 'is that when----'

'Yes, yes, uncle,' Mark hastened to interpose, 'but on special
occasions like these one can leave one's duties for a while.'

'Now there I think you make your mistake--you make too sure, Mark. I
tell you (and I think your friend 'ere will bear me out in this) that,
in your situation, it don't _do_ to go leaving 'em in the lurch too
often--it don't _do_!' Mark could stand no more of this.

'A _lurch_ now,' he said--'what an odd expression that is! Do you
know, I've often tried to picture to myself what kind of a thing a
lurch may be. I always fancy it must be a sort of a deep hole. Have
_you_ any idea, Vincent?' Mark would have been too thankful to have
been able to drop his uncle down a lurch of that description
occasionally, particularly when he chose, as he did on this occasion,
to take offence at his nephew's levity.

'Lurch is a good old English word, let me tell yer, Mr. Schoolmaster
that was,' he broke in; 'and if I'd done as many a man in my position
would, and left _you_ in the lurch a few months ago, where would you
ha' been?--that's what I'd like to know! For I must tell yer, Mr.
Holroyd, that that feller came to me with a precious long face, and
says he, "Uncle," he says, "I want you to----"'

Mark felt that in another moment the whole story of his uncle's
intervention at Kensington Park Gardens would burst upon Holroyd with
the force of a revelation, and he was at the end of his resources.
_Where_ was Caffyn all this time? How could he be so careless as to be
late?

'I--I don't think it's quite fair to tell all that,' he expostulated
weakly.

'Fair!' said Uncle Solomon. 'I made no secrecy over it. I did nothing
to be ashamed of and hush up, and it's no disgrace to you that I can
s