“Well, he hasn’t opened his fishing expedition by catching a flat,” chuckled Sletherby. He would have an entertaining story to recount at dinner that evening, and his clever little trap would earn him applause as a man of resource and astuteness. He was still telling his adventure in imagination to an attentive audience of dinner-guests when the train drew up at his destination. On the platform he was greeted sedately by a tall footman, and noisily by Claude People, K.C. , who had apparently travelled down by the same train.

“Hully, Sletherby! You spending the weekend at Brill? Good. Excellent. We’ll have a round of golf together tomorrow; I’ll give you your revenge for Hoylake. Not a bad course here, as inland courses go. Ah, here we are; here’s the car waiting for us, and very nice, too!”