Teddie rehearsed the menu, then began to explain matters further, as he became conscious of his uncle’s extreme surprise. "Oh, we don’t fare like that every evening, simple though it is," he said in self-justification. "This is an entertainment long owed to my brother Hugh, and a couple of friends are asked to meet him." Silence fell between them. Once the old man cleared his throat and was about to speak, but checked himself. When he did speak, he had evidently put something of moment aside. "What shall you give them to drink?" he asked, in kindly interest. "Whisky and soda or bottled beer," Teddie told him with prompt decision. "I did hope to give them a glass of decent claret, but that is off, of course." Again a silence. "Look you here, my boy." Uncle Desborough seemed bent upon having it out. Fear of rebuff had caused him to hesitate, and a strange sense of the unwonted good-fellowship of what he was about to propose made him awkward. "What do you say to asking me to your dinner? Would not that square matters?" "We shall be delighted," Teddie made answer, very stiffly. "But, of course, we cannot let one of our guests pay for his dinner." "An old fellow like myself won’t be in the way?" Mr. Desborough asked. The half-wistful tone of the question, meant to be brusque, was not lost upon his nephew. "Not at all," he replied, more genially. "We shall be glad of your company. A quarter to eight, then, to-night." A few hours later Gerald and Teddie were receiving their four guests with hearty welcome. The amazement of Gerald and Hugh when Mr. Desborough was announced can hardly be conceived, for Teddie had mischievously kept dark the circumstance of his coming. Their innate good-breeding and natural courtesy prompted them quickly to overcome the tendency to stand petrified with open mouths; for after only a momentary pause they were shaking hands warmly, as if their uncle’s condescension were the most natural thing in the world. "You are Paul Charteris, of whom my niece Hazel spoke?" Mr. Desborough asked of the latest arrival. Paul flushed at the sudden mention of that name. "Yes," he returned, "I have the good fortune to be a near neighbour of the Le Mesuriers." It was marvellous to witness the little party being chivied about by the bustling landlady and her handmaid, till at length, finding it impossible to congregate about the hearth or by the window, the expedience began to dawn upon the group of dispersing singly. Thus they sat in formidable array round the walls of the room, whilst Hugh and Mr. Desborough conversed amicably together, seated side by side upon the horsehair sofa.