Nannie raised her brows again and nodded at Jim significantly. “Ahem--I really don’t think we had better----” she murmured. Jim shrugged his shoulders with a baffled air and began to refill his pipe. At the same moment Lucy appeared in the doorway behind her mother. “Where’s John?” Lucy asked, entering the room with Dimmie and glancing about inquiringly. “Why he went out for a few minutes. I must run upstairs and take my clothes out of the rain,” Mrs. Merwent murmured, brushing past her daughter into the hallway. “Whatever made John run away just when dinner was ready? And it’s begun to rain too!” Lucy walked over to the fireplace and placed a screen in front of it. “Tell me a story, Uncle Jim,” Dimmie begged, pulling Jim’s coat tails and indicating the Morris chair which Nannie had quitted. “It’s too near dinner time,” Lucy remonstrated, noticing how abstracted Jim appeared. She looked at the clock on the writing desk. “Is it as late as that?” she asked in surprise. Jim took out his watch. “Seven fifteen,” he informed her, replacing his time-piece, and walking over to the darkened window he remained, with his back to her, gazing into the faintly lit street. She scrutinised his half averted face. “Are you bothered about something, Jim?” He started slightly. “Why, no, not particularly. I was figuring out what would be the cheapest material we could put into that new row of houses,” he lied. “I’ve got to send in the final estimates tomorrow.” He moved away from the window and seated himself in the Morris chair with Dimmie in his lap. “I can’t imagine what keeps John,” Lucy remarked again. Jim slid Dimmie to the floor. “Don’t you want me to go and hunt him up?” “Why--no-o. I----” Lucy demurred. “I don’t think----” Just then there was the sound of a key turning in a latch and Dimmie darted forward into the hall shouting, “There’s Papa! There’s Papa!” John left a parcel on the stand with his hat and overcoat and entered the living room. “Why didn’t you tell me that you intended going out, John? I wouldn’t have taken dinner up. I’m afraid it is spoiled,” Lucy said good naturedly as she came forward to meet him. “Oh, you know I--well----” John explained running his fingers through his hair with an embarrassed gesture. “What in the world did you have to buy that couldn’t wait until after dinner?” Lucy walked into the hall and picked up the package which lay beside his hat. “Why, it’s some fruit. I thought it might be nice to have some,” he said lamely, following her to the hat stand. “But there’s plenty of fruit in the house.” Nannie appeared on the stairs. “Why, where have you been, John? We were all looking for you,” she called rather uneasily. XI John and Nannie entered the dining room together. Jim followed with Lucy and Dimmie. “Did Nannie give you those flowers, Uncle Jim?” Dimmie asked as they went through the hall. He reached for the _boutonnière_ which Jim was wearing.