into my family
circle, took the rational course of deriving from the fellow
considerable entertainment. Jaffery would have done the same as myself,
had not his responsibility as Liosha's guardian weighed heavily upon
him. He frowned, and ate in silence, vastly. Doria, like my wife, I
could see was shocked. The only two who, beside myself, enjoyed our
guest were Susan and Liosha. Well, Susan was nine years old and a meal
at which a guest broke her whole decalogue of table manners at once--to
say nothing of the performance of such miracles as squeezing an orange
into nothingness, without the juice running out, and subsequently
extracting it from the neck of an agonised mother--was a feast of
memorable gaudiness. Susan could be excused. But Liosha? Liosha, pupil
of the admirable Mrs. Considine? Liosha, descendant of proud Albanian
chieftains who had lain in gory beds for centuries? How could she admire
this peculiarly vulgar, although, in his own line, peculiarly
accomplished person? Yet her admiration was obvious. She sat by my side,
grand and radiant, proud of the wondrous gift she had bestowed on us.
She acclaimed his tricks, she laughed at his anecdotes, she urged him on
to further exhibition of prowess, and in a magnificent way appeared
unconscious of the presence at the table of her trustee and would-be
dragon, Jaffery Chayne.

After lunch Susan obeyed my instructions and stuck very close to Mr.
Fendihook. Doria retired for her afternoon rest. Jaffery, having invited
Liosha to go for a long walk with him and she having declined, with a
polite smile, on the ground that her best Sunday-go-to-meeting long gown
was not suitable for country roads, went off by himself in dudgeon.
Barbara took Liosha aside and cross-examined her on the subject of Mr.
Fendihook and as far as hospitality allowed signified her
non-appreciation of the guest. After a time I took him into the billiard
room, Susan following. As he was a brilliant player, giving me one
hundred and fifty in two hundred and running out easily before I had
made thirty, he found less excitement in the game than in narrating his
exploits and performing tricks for the child. He did astonishing things
with the billiard balls, making them run all over his body like mice and
balancing them on cues and juggling with them five at a time. I think
that day he must have gone through his whole repertoire.

The party assembled for tea in the drawing-room. Fendihook's first words