us.'

'It is he, perhaps, who will feel resentment,' said Purvis.

'Perhaps,' said Peter, resisting an inclination to speed Purvis's
departure.

CHAPTER XIV

Toffy was hovering about the dining-room waiting for him as he turned
and went into the house again, and said, 'All this is a bit rough on
you, Peter.' And Peter assented with a nod.

The two men went into the little drawing-room to collect pillows for
the long chairs in the corridor where they were going to sleep, and
Peter went to a side table to turn low a lamp which was adding to the
heat of the room. 'I say,' he said, 'didn't you mean these letters to
go?'

'Haven't my letters gone?' said Toffy. 'How on earth were they
forgotten?'

'Toffy,' said Peter, 'when I meet you acting as a sandwich-man in
Piccadilly, without a rag to your back or a shilling to your name, I
shall say nothing more encouraging to you than, "It was just what I
expected!"'

'But Ross always told me to leave my letters here when I wanted them
posted!' said Toffy, scratching his head.

'It's an extraordinary thing,' said Peter, 'that you ever have a pillow
to lay your head on; and you don't get that unless I heave it at you
and prevent other fellows grabbing it! Who 's got your motorcar at
home now? Some one, I suppose, you 've lent it to, and from whom you
won't a bit like to ask it back. Are you getting any rent at all for
Hulworth?' he went on, his wrath increasing as he spoke, 'or are you
letting it slide for a bit because your tenants are hard up? Would you
have a picture, or a bit of cracked china, or a bottle of wine left, if
they had not been all tied up by some cunning ancestor and looked after
by his executors? What has become of your horses, and why are you
always put to sleep in the billiard-room of an hotel, or in the pantry,
when other fellows get a decent bed provided for them? Why do they
give you a room over the stables when country houses are full, where
the coachman's wife asks you if you would like a little hot water in
the morning, and regrets that the chimney doesn't draw very well? You
were born that way, I suppose,' finished Peter hopelessly. 'I don't
believe you were ever allowed a cradle if your nurse wanted it for any
one else!'

'I rub along all right!' said Toffy apologetically.

'Look here,' said Peter, 'I 'll ride with these letters after Purvis,
and ask him to post them; he 'll get down to Taco in time to catch the
mail, and I