"Put it up." "Right." "And hold it very carefully." "Esteemed order booked," said Hugo. "Carry on." "Are you sure you are holding it carefully?" "As in a vise." "Well, don't let go." Mr. Carmody, dying a considerable number of deaths in the process, descended. He found his nephew's curiosity at close range even more acute than it had been from a distance. "What on earth were you doing up there?" said Hugo, starting again at the beginning. "Never mind." "But what were you?" "If you wish to know, a rung broke and the ladder slipped." "But what were you doing on a ladder?" "Never mind!" cried Mr. Carmody, regretting more bitterly than ever before in his life that his late brother Eustace had not lived and died a bachelor. "Don't keep saying What--What--What!" "Well, why?" said Hugo, conceding the point. "Why were you climbing ladders?" Mr. Carmody hesitated. His native intelligence returning, he perceived now that this was just what the great public would want to know. It was little use urging a human talking machine like his nephew to keep quiet and say nothing about this incident. In a couple of hours it would be all over Rudge. He thought swiftly. "I fancied I saw a swallow's nest under the eaves." "Swallow's nest?" "Swallow's nest. The nest," said Mr. Carmody between his teeth, "of a swallow." "Did you think swallows nested in July?" "Why shouldn't they?" "Well, they don't." "I never said they did. I merely said...." "No swallow has ever nested in July." "I never...." "April," said our usually well-informed correspondent. "What?" "April. Swallows nest in April." "Damn all swallows!" said Mr. Carmody. And there was silence for a moment, while Hugo directed his keen young mind to other aspects of this strange affair. "How long had you been up there?" "I don't know. Hours. Since half-past five." "Half-past five? You mean you got up at half-past five to look for swallows' nests in July?" "I did not get up to look for swallows' nests." "But you said you were looking for swallows' nests." "I did not say I was looking for swallows' nests. I merely said I fancied I saw a swallow's nest...." "You couldn't have done. Swallows don't nest in July.... April." The sun was peeping over the elms. Mr. Carmody raised his clenched fists to it. "I did not say I saw a swallow's nest. I said I thought I saw a swallow's nest." "And got a ladder out and climbed up for it?" "Yes." "Having risen from couch at five-thirty ante meridian?" "Will you kindly stop asking me all these questions." Hugo regarded him thoughtfully. "Just as you like, Uncle. Well, anything further this morning? If not, I'll be getting along and taking my dip." III "I say, Ronnie," said Hugo, some two hours later, meeting his friend en route for the breakfast table. "You know my uncle?" "What about him?" "He's loopy." "What?"