“Lor, sir,” she exclaimed in undisguised astonishment, “do you want those animals in your room?”

Want !

The pigling, as though aware that it might have outstayed its welcome, dashed out at the door, and the gamecock followed it at a more dignified pace.

“If Miss Vera’s dog sees that pig⁠—!” exclaimed the maid, and hurried off to avert such a catastrophe.

A cold suspicion was stealing over Latimer’s mind; he went to the window and drew up the blind. A light, drizzling rain was falling, but there was not the faintest trace of any inundation.

Some half-hour later he met Vera on the way to the breakfast-room.

“I should not like to think of you as a deliberate liar,” he observed coldly, “but one occasionally has to do things one does not like.”