Chimp could have done the same. With an intense bitterness he was regretting that he had ever allowed Mr. Molloy to persuade him into this rash venture. But he was a man of resource. He made an effort to mend matters. Soapy, in a similar situation, would have done it better, but Chimp, though not possessing his old friend's glib tongue and insinuating manners, did the best he could. "You startled me," he said, smiling a sickly smile. "I bet I did," agreed Hugo cordially. "I came to see your uncle." "You what?" "I came to see your uncle." "Twist, you lie! And, what is more, you lie in your teeth." "Now, see here...!" began Chimp, with a feeble attempt at belligerence. Hugo checked him with a gesture. "There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, for I am armed so strong in honesty that they pass by me like the idle wind, which I respect not. Must I give way and room to your rash choler? Shall I be frightened when a madman stares? By the gods, you shall digest the venom of your spleen though it do split you. And what could be fairer than that?" said Hugo. Mr. Twist was discouraged, but he persevered. "I guess it looked funny to you, seeing me come in through a window. But, you see, I rang the front door bell and couldn't seem to make anyone hear." "Away, slight man!" "You want me to go away?" said Mr. Twist, with a gleam of hope. "You stay where you are, unless you'd like me to lean a decanter of the best port up against your head," said Hugo. "And don't flicker," he added, awakening to another grievance against this unpleasant little man. "Don't what?" inquired Mr. Twist, puzzled but anxious to oblige. "Flicker. Your outline keeps wobbling, and I don't like it. And there's another thing about you that I don't like. I've forgotten what it is for the moment, but it'll come back to me soon." He frowned darkly: and for the first time it was borne in upon Mr. Twist that his young host was not altogether himself. There was a gleam in his eyes which, in Mr. Twist's opinion, was far too wild to be agreeable. "I know," said Hugo, having reflected. "It's your moustache." "My moustache?" "Or whatever it is that's broken out on your upper lip. I dislike it intensely. When Cæsar lived," said Hugo querulously, "he durst not thus have moved me. And the worst thing of all is that you should have taken a quiet, harmless country house and called it such a beastly, repulsive name as Healthward Ho. Great Scot!" exclaimed Hugo. "I knew there was something I was forgetting. All this while you ought to have been doing bending and stretching exercises!" "Your uncle, I guess, is still down at the concert thing in the village?" said Mr. Twist, weakly endeavouring to change the conversation. Hugo started. A look of the keenest suspicion flashed into his eyes. "Were you at that concert?" he said sternly. "Me? No." "Are you sure, Twist? Look me in the face." "I've never been near any concert."