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He put down the stuar, which unlike Anstice he had smoked to the end, and looked at the other man with a kindly eye

"Look here, Anstice, why shouldn't we go--you and I--to visit Mrs Carstairs now?"

"Now?" Anstice was somewhat taken aback at the proposal

"Yes Why not? There's no time like the present It is barely six o'clock, and she will certainly be at home"

"But--won't she be at church?" Anstice felt suddenly unwilling to go into the matter with the mistress of Cherry Orchard

"Not she! Don't you know Chloe only goes to church once in a blue hed breezily "I don't blae--but anyway she will be at hoht And--another inducement--Tochatti will almost certainly be at her church Those Catholics are a queer lot," said Sir Richard, as a Protestant of the old school "They will cheat you and lie to you--aye, and half ht--and turn up at Mass without fail on Sunday o to the Roht," owned Anstice rather reluctantly "Well, sir, if you really think the o by all means After all, it is just possible Mrs Carstairs may have had suspicions of Tochatti herself"

"Yes I remember Iris often used to say she distrusted the woman--don't knohy I never paid much attention to her caprices," said Sir Richard with a smile; and Anstice made haste to seize the opportunity thus offered

"Ah--by the hat news have you of your daughter?" He could not call her by the naypt, I suppose?"

"Yes She and Bruce are soed on soyptian of sorts, and he and Iris have been ca out in the desert--quite a picnic they seem to have had"

"Really?" For the life of him he could not speak naturally; but Sir Richard was nored his strained tone

"They sent raphs--snapshots--last week," said Sir Richard "Would you care to see them? I have them here soing in the contents for a few moments drew out half a dozen s: "Aood, all the same Oh, by the way"--he spoke with elaborate carelessness--"how did you co, or have you the car?"