at our little nest. Grace is not the woman to want me to drop my
bachelor friends."

"Touching this match," said Peter. "Strict Royal and Ancient rules, of
course?"

"Certainly."

"I mean to say--no offence, old man--but no grounding niblicks in
bunkers."

"Precisely. And, without hinting at anything personal, the ball shall
be considered holed-out only when it is in the hole, not when it stops
on the edge."

"Undoubtedly. And--you know I don't want to hurt your feelings--missing
the ball counts as a stroke, not as a practice-swing."

"Exactly. And--you'll forgive me if I mention it--a player whose ball
has fallen in the rough, may not pull up all the bushes within a radius
of three feet."

"In fact, strict rules."

"Strict rules."

They shook hands without more words. And presently Peter walked out,
and James, with a guilty look over his shoulder, took down Sandy
MacBean's great work from the bookshelf and began to study the
photograph of the short approach-shot showing Mr. MacBean swinging from