his head and glancing up at the deplorable placard. "It wouldn't
look well in a Christmas card. I beg your pardon, sir, for I
haven't spoke as much as this for many a long year, but to-day my
feelings seem to 'ave got the better of me. 'E can sack me till
'e's blue in the face, but I ain't going, and that's flat. I'm
'is man and 'e's my master, and so it will be, I expect, to the
end of the chapter."

We had passed between the white posts of a gate and up a curving
drive, lined with rhododendron bushes. Beyond stood a low brick
house, picked out with white woodwork, very comfortable and
pretty. Mrs. Challenger, a small, dainty, smiling figure, stood
in the open doorway to welcome us.

"Well, my dear," said Challenger, bustling out of the car, "here
are our visitors. It is something new for us to have visitors,
is it not? No love lost between us and our neighbors, is there?
If they could get rat poison into our baker's cart, I expect it
would be there."

"It's dreadful--dreadful!" cried the lady, between laughter and
tears. "George is always quarreling with everyone. We haven't a
friend on the countryside."

"It enables me to concentrate my attention upon my incomparable
wife," said Challenger, passing his short, thick arm round her
waist. Picture a gorilla and a gazelle, and you have the pair of
them. "Come, come, these gentlemen are tired from the journey,
and luncheon should be ready. Has Sarah returned?"