' as he always expresses it--but of course, he was obliged to
yield, and the 'dream of his life' dropped off into nothing but a dream.
But the old love and the old recollection still linger, and, although
he no longer personally follows either trade or profession, he keeps up
his laboratory work, subscribes to every medical journal in Christendom,
and if you want to tickle his vanity or to get on the right side of him
all you have to do is to address him as 'doctor.' With all due respect
to him, he's a bit of a prig, Mr. Cleek, and hates people of no
position--'people of the lower order,' as he always terms them--as the
gentleman down under is said to hate holy water."

"So that he, naturally, would move heaven and earth to prevent his
grandson and heir from marrying a young woman of that class? I see!"
supplemented Cleek. "The dear gentleman would like the name of Morford
to go down to posterity linked to duchesses or earls' daughters, and
surrounded by a blaze of glory. Ah, it's a queer world, Captain. There
is no bitterer hater of the 'common herd' than the snob who has climbed
up from it! The snob and the sneak are closely allied, Captain, and men
of that stamp have been known to do some pretty ugly things to uphold
their pinchbeck dignity, and to keep the tinsel of the present over the
cheap gingerbread of the past."

"Good God, man! You don't surely mean to suggest--"

"Gently, gently, Captain. Your indignation does you credit; but it is
never well to have a shot at a rabbit before he's fairly out of the
hole, and you are sure that it isn't the ferret you sent in after him.
Anything in the way of a conveyance handy, Mr. Narkom?"

"Yes--the limousine. I came down in it yesterday. It's over at the Rose
and Crown."

"Good! Then perhaps Captain Morford will meet us there in a half hour's
time. Meanwhile, I've got a few things to throw into my kit-bag, and as
that's over at the Three Desires, perhaps you won't mind coming along
and giving me a hand. Then we'll run over to that house at Dalehampton
and have a look at the body of that poor little shaver as expeditiously
as possible. Will you come?"

"Yes, certainly," said Narkom; and having given a few necessary
directions to the Captain walked on and followed Cleek. He knew very
well the suggestion that he should do so was merely an excuse to have a
few words with him in private--for no man would be likely to need
another man's assistance in simply putting a few t