"No. Do you?"

"No."

Inwardly they congratulated themselves. Presently Mr. Brookes said: "I
hear you have been staying with my sister, Mrs. Haltom. You were
shooting there, were you not?"

"Yes, they were kind enough to ask me. Very nice shooting they have,
too."

"I hear that you have gone in for rearing pheasants."

"Yes; we shot a hundred brace last year."

The conversation dropped, and in an impressive silence both men
wondered what they had better say to lead honourably up to the subject
they had come to speak on.

"Is your house your own design? Did you build it entirely yourself?
Iforget. I ought to know; you told me all about it when I dined with
you."

"There was a house there, but I altered it considerably after my own
idea, and not a bad idea, I flatter myself. I spent a good deal of
money in laying out the grounds, putting up conservatories, and so
forth."

"You are a single man?"