st accomplish some feat the which each one
of us three shall avow to be beyond him."

"Good!" cries Jack, rubbing his hands, "excellent--so much for the
first. Secondly--I say secondly--er--ha, yes--you must make a public
laughing stock of that quarrelsome puppy, Sir Harry Raikes. Raikes is a
dangerous fellow and generally pinks his man, sir."

"So they tell me," nodded Mr. Tawnish, jotting down a few lines in his
memorandum.

"Thirdly," ended Bentley, "you must succeed in placing all three of
us--namely, Sir Richard Eden, Sir John Chester, and myself--together and
at the same time, at a disadvantage."

"Now, sir," says Jack, complacently, "prove your manhood equal to these
three tasks, and you shall be free to woo and wed the Lady Penelope
whenever you will. How say you, Dick and Bentley?"

"Agreed," we replied.

"Indeed, gentlemen," says Mr. Tawnish, glancing at his memoranda with a
slight frown, "I think the labours of Hercules were scarce to be
compared to these, yet I do not altogether despair, and to prove to you
my readiness in the matter, I will, with your permission, go and set
about the doing of them." With these words he rose, took up his hat, and
with a most profound obeisance turned to the door.

At this moment, however, there came a trampling of feet upon the stairs,
another door was thrown open, and in walked Sir Harry Raikes himself,
followed by D'Arcy and Hammersley, with three or four others whose faces
were familiar. They were all in boisterous spirits, Sir Harry's florid
face being flushed more than ordinary with drinking, and there was an
ugly light in his prominent blue eyes.

Now, it so happened that to reach the street, Mr. Tawnish must pass
close beside him, and noting this, Sir Harry very evidently placed
himself full in the way, so that Mr. Tawnish was obliged to step aside
to avoid a collision; yet even then, Raikes thrust out an elbow in such
a fashion as to jostle him very unceremoniously. Never have I seen an
insult more wanton and altogether unprovoked, and we all of us, I
think, ceased to breathe, waiting for the inevitable to follow.

Mr. Tawnish stopped and turned. I saw his delicate brows twitch suddenly
together, and for a moment his chin seemed more than usually
prominent--then all at once he smiled--positively smiled, and shrugged
his shoulders with his languid air.

"Sir," says he, with a flash of his white teeth, "it seems they make
these rooms uncommon small and narr