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Rehter, the explanation of his presence at that moment in the office of Marlowe, Thorpe, Prescott, Winslow, and Appleby was si at his watch on the dressing-table, he had suddenly becoht and yellow beside it, and had paused, transfixed, like Robinson Crusoe staring at the footprint in the sand If he had not been in England, he would have said it was a patch of sunshine Hardly daring to hope, he pulled up the shades and looked out on the garden

It was a superb reat bottle full of the distilled scent of grass, trees, flowers, and hay Mr Bennett sniffed luxuriantly Gone was the glooreat exhilaration

Breakfast had deepened his content Henry Mortimer, softened by the sa All their little differences had enial warmth And then suddenly Mr Bennett remembered that he had sent Billie up to London to enlist the aid of the Law against his old friend, and reripped him Half an hour later he was in the train, on his way to London to intercept her and cancel her mission He had arrived, breathless at Sir Mallaby's office, and the first thing he had seen was his daughter in the arer to hi back He advanced shakily into the room, and supported himself with one hand on the desk, while with the other he plied the handkerchief on his super-heated face

Billie was the first to speak

"Why, father," she said, "I didn't expect you!"

As an explanation of her behaviour this ht, no doubt, have been considered sufficient, but as an excuse for it Mr Bennett thought it inadequate He tried to convey a fatherly reproof by puffing like a seal after a long dive in search of fish

"This is Sam," proceeded Billie "Satowards him with outstretched hand It took a lot to disconcert Saave evidence of this in a neat speech He did not in so ratulate Mr Bennett on the piece of luck which had befallen him, but he tried to make him understand by his manner that he was distinctly to be envied as the prospective father-in-law of such a one as himself