too small for them. I misgave more than ever, and having
once launched Reginald on to the McKillops' lawn, I
established him near a seductive dish of marrons glaces, and
as far from the Archdeacon's wife as possible; as I drifted
away to a diplomatic distance I heard with painful
distinctness the eldest Mawkby girl asking him if he had seen
San Toy.

It must have been ten minutes later, not more, and I had been
having QUITE an enjoyable chat with my hostess, and had
promised to lend her The Eternal City and my recipe for
rabbit mayonnaise, and was just about to offer a kind home
for her third Persian kitten, when I perceived, out of the
corner of my eye, that Reginald was not where I had left him,
and that the marrons glaces were untasted. At the same
moment I became aware that old Colonel Mendoza was essaying
to tell his classic story of how he introduced golf into
India, and that Reginald was in dangerous proximity. There
are occasions when Reginald is caviare to the Colonel.

"When I was at Poona in '76" -

"My dear Colonel," purred Reginald, "fancy admitting such a
thing! Such a give-away for one's age! I wouldn't admit
being on this planet in '76." (Reginald in his wildest
lapses into veracity never admits to being more than twenty-
two.)

The Colonel went to the colour of a fig that has attained
great ripeness, and Reginald, ignoring my efforts to