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"You seeht to call it looseness of disposition," he ads connected with the past which I find it al instance," he went on, with a slight slass "You don't drink port like any Dominey I ever knew"

"I'm afraid that I never acquired the taste for port," Doazed at him with raised eyebrows

"Not acquired the taste for port," he repeated blankly

"I should have said reacquired," Dominey hastened to explain "You see, in the bush we drank a sihtful amount of spirits, and that vitiates the taste for all wine"

The lawyer glanced enviously at his host's fine bronzed complexion and clear eyes

"You haven't the appearance of ever having drunk anything, Sir Everard," he observed frankly "One finds it hard to believe the stories that were going about ten or fifteen years ago"

"The Dominey constitution, I suppose!"

The new butler entered the room noiselessly and came to his master's chair

"I have served coffee in the library, sir," he announced "Mr Middleton, the gamekeeper, has just called, and asks if he could have a ith you before he goes to bed to-night, sir He seems in a very nervous and uneasy state"

"He can come to the library at once," Dominey directed; "that is, if you are ready for your coffee, Mangan"

"Indeed I areat treat, that wine One thing the London restaurants can't give us Port should never be drunk away from the place where it was laid down"

The two men made their way across the very fine hall, the walls of which had suffered a little through lack of heating, into the library, and seated the fire Parkins silently served them with coffee and brandy He had scarcely left the room before there was a ti entrance

"Come in and close the door," Dominey directed "What is it, Middleton? Parkins says you wish to speak to ly forward He was obviously distressed and uneasy, and found speech difficult His face glistened with the rain which had found its way, too, in long streaks down his velveteen coat His white hair ind-tossed and disarranged