he next day to discover that Canterbury
Cathedral is _closed to visitors on Sunday_.

_We_ saw it on Monday.

After such a day it was no surprise to me to have Aubrey come home so
dead tired that our strenuous evening was given up, and we all went out
in Cary's new motor-car instead.

CHAPTER XII

A LETTER FROM JIMMIE

Jimmie's "bread-and-butter" letter gave me such joy that I copy it
here, which shows how little I care for the conventions of life,
inasmuch as I reproduce none of the others. Lady Mary's, Mrs.
Jimmie's, Artie Beg's, Cary's, Sir Wemyss's, Captain Featherstone's,
were all models of propriety, and, except that they are friends of
mine, I would add, of stupidity. Bee's--Bee's showed me a dozen ways
in which I might have improved my hospitality, and hers, at least, does
not come under the head of the name. But Jimmie's! Here it is:

"Wretched creature and your wholly irreproachable husband:

"Ordinarily I would simply write to say that I had had a bully good
time at the iniquitous place where you hang out, and by so doing--were
I an ordinary man--would consider that I had paid my just debts and was
quits with the world--and with you. But not being ordinary--on the
contrary, and without undue pride, denominating myself as a most
extraordinary, rare, and orchid-like male creature, I feel that the
appended narrative, albeit I do not figure therein as Sir Galahad or
King Arthur, is no more than your just due. I relinquish the steel
helmet and holy grail adjuncts, and exploit myself to your ribald gaze
and half-witted laughter just as I is.

"But first, let me rid myself of my obligations. I did enjoy every
moment of my stay, and I recall, with a particular and somewhat
pardonable pride, that you, Faith, on one occasion, took off my
shoes,--a menial duty which I shall hereafter exact of you wherever we
may be. Don't complain. It was yourself established the precedent,
somewhat, if you will remember, against my will.

"Aubrey, as usual, was all that was kind.

"My duty now being done, I will proceed to narrate something which wild
horses could not draw from me for anybody but you.

"To begin with, you have been told that we are building a house, and
you know how interested I am in all its details. For example, a pile
of bricks had been left on the third floor, which plainly belonged to
the cellar. I had to come up on ladders, the hole for the stairways
being left open. As the pul