"And yet he had won his case and got his--what do you say? client? off--I dare say you remember it? She was my husband's cousin though we hardly liked to say so at the time: it is so unpleasant having a murder in the family. Fortunately she was let off; I mean, the jury said 'not guilty,' though personally I--However that is neither here nor there, and since then she's married Colonel Kesteven--Won't you have some pheasant? No? I remember your cousin used to have a very poor appetite, especially when one of his cases was on. _How_ he used--excuse my saying so--how he used to tire poor Michael--Mr. Rossiter! Talk, talk, talk! in the evenings, and I knew the Professor had his lectures to prepare, but hints were thrown away on Mr. David." Rossiter broke in: "Now what would you like to do in the afternoon, Miss Warren? And Gardner? You, by the bye, have the first claim on our hospitality. You have just arrived from Africa and the only thing we have done for you, so far, is to drag you into a disgraceful row." _Frank_: "Well, _I_ should like a glimpse of the Zoo. I'm quite willing to pay my shilling and give no more trouble, but if Vivie is going there too we could all walk up together. After that I'm going to revisit an old acquaintance of mine and Vivie's, Praed the architect--lives somewhere in Chelsea if I remember right--" _Vivie_: "In Hans Place. I don't particularly want to go to the Zoo. I look so odd I might over-excite the monkeys. I think I should like to try a restful visit to the Royal Botanic. I'm so fond of their collection of weird succulent plants--things that look like stones and suddenly produce superb flowers." _Mrs. Rossiter_: "We belong to the Botanic as well as to the Zoo. _I_ could take you there after lunch." _Rossiter_: "You forget, dearie, you've got to open that Bazaar in Marylebone Town Hall--" _Linda_: "Oh, have I? To be sure. But it's Lady Goring that does the opening, I'm _much_ too nervous. Still I promised to come. Would Miss Warren care to come with me?" _Vivie_: "I should have liked to awfully: I love bazaars; but just at this moment I'm thinking more of those succulent plants ... and my battered face." _Rossiter_: "I'll make up your minds for you. We'll _all_ drive to the Zoo in Linda's motor. Gardner shall look at the animals and then find his way to Hans Place. I'll escort Miss Warren to the Botanic, and then come on and pick you up, Linda, at the Town Hall." That statement seemed to satisfy every one, so after coffee and a glance round the laboratory and the last experiments, they proceeded to the Zoo, with at least an hour's daylight at their disposal. Rossiter and Vivie were at last alone within the charmed circle of the Botanic Gardens. They made their way slowly to the great Palm House and thence up twisty iron steps to a nook like a tree refuge in New Guinea, among palm boles and extravagant aroid growths.