the farm. Are you coming, Scamp? Why, I
really believe it's the first time in my life I've ever seen a dog
look dead beat!"

CHAPTER XVI

The Chinese Charm

"What are we going to do to-day?" asked Oswald after breakfast next
morning. "We've an uncommonly short holiday, so we must spin it out as
well as we can. Who votes for Llangelynin?"

"Too far and too hot," replied Artie, stretching himself comfortably
in his father's armchair. "I feel more inclined to lie on the lawn and
laze than go climbing hills again."

"It's too far for you all after your long walk yesterday," said Mrs.
Marshall. "You boys may do what you like this morning, but Linda and
Sylvia are to stay quietly in the garden until dinner-time. There's an
invitation for you to have tea at Dr. Severn's, which of course I have
accepted. I was sure you would all like to go."

"Rather!" said Oswald. "He's the jolliest chap I know, and that's
saying a good deal. Artie, suppose we take ourselves off to the marsh
and have a dip in the pool; it's about the coolest thing I can suggest
for a day like this, and we shall both enjoy a swim."

"Who is Dr. Severn?" said Sylvia to Linda, when the boys had started
for their bathe, and the two little girls were sitting in a cool,
shady place under the trees, with their books on their knees.

"He's a gentleman who came last summer to live at a house not very far
away," answered Linda. "We only got to know him lately; but he's so
nice, and the boys simply adore him!"

"Hasn't he any children of his own?"

"No. We heard they were dead, and his wife too, but he's never spoken
about them even to Father and Mother. He lives quite alone, with a
housekeeper to look after him. He's been in all kinds of foreign
places, and his rooms are so full of funny things, it's just like
going to a museum. There's a stuffed crocodile, and a mummied cat, and
a horrid lizard in a bottle, and some snake skins, and a locust, and a
scorpion, and a whole case of lovely butterflies. He tells us about
them sometimes, and where he found them."

"I hope he'll show them to us to-day," said Sylvia, who thought the
collection sounded interesting.

"I'm sure he will if we ask him," said Linda. "I should like to see
them again myself, especially the crocodile. He has a big cabinet full
of little drawers, and he keeps curiosities in them from every place
he's been to. There's one with nothing but shells, and another for
corals, and a third