t when the thing isn't
there; well, I suppose I'd been expecting to see one of Sabre's two
servants, 'my couple of Jinkses' as he calls them, and 'pon my soul I
was quite startled when the door opened and it wasn't one of them at
all, but a very different pair of shoes.

"It was a young woman; ladylike, dressed just in some ordinary sort of
clothes; I don't know; uncommonly pretty, or might have been if she
hadn't looked so uncommonly sad; and--this was what knocked me carrying
a baby. 'Pon my soul, I couldn't have been more astonished if the door
had been opened by the Kaiser carrying the Crown Prince.

"I don't know why I should have imagined she was the kid's mother, but I
did. I don't know why I should have looked at her hands, but I did. I
don't know why I should have expected to see a wedding ring, but I did.
And there wasn't one.

"Well, she was saying 'Yes?' in an inquiring, timid sort of way, me
standing there like a fool, you understand, and I suddenly recovered
from my flabbergasteration and guessed the obvious thing--that the
Sabres had let their house to strangers and gone away. Still more
obvious, you might say, that Mrs. Sabre had produced a baby, and that
the girl was her sister or some one, but that never occurred to me. No,
I guessed they'd gone away, and I said, 'I was calling to see Mr. Sabre.
Has he gone away?'

"I'd thought her looking timid. She was looking at me now decidedly as
if she were frightened of me. 'No, no, Mr. Sabre's not gone away. He's
here. Are you a friend of his?'

"I smiled at her. 'Well, I used to be,' I said. She didn't smile. What
the dickens was up? 'I used to be. I always thought I was. My name's
Hapgood.'

"'Perhaps you'd better come in.'

"You know, it was perfectly extraordinary. Her voice was as sad as her
face. I stepped in. What on earth was I going to hear? Sabre dying? Wife
dying? Air-raid bomb fallen on the house and everybody dead? 'Pon my
soul, I began to feel creepy. Scalp began to prick. Then suddenly there
was old Sabre at the head of the stairs. 'What is it, Effie?' Then he
saw me. 'Hullo, Hapgood!' His voice was devilish pleased. Then he said
again, rather in a thoughtful voice, 'Hullo, Hapgood,' and he began to
come down, slowly, with his stick.

"Well, _he_ wasn't dead, anyway; that was something to go on with. I
took his hand and said, 'Hullo, Sabre. How goes it, old man? Able to do
the stairs now, I see. I was down to Tidborough and thought I'd