"I don't suppose you've heard the news," I said, as we settled down to our soup. "Do you mean about the Traffic Bill?" said Alderley. "Or Notts and Yorkshire?" said Lionel. "Or the Queen of Spain?" said my sister. "Or John's portrait of Mrs. Grundy?" said Drusilla. "Or Mr. Bemerton's latest find?" said Naomi. "No," I said, "none of these. You couldn't really have guessed if you had gone on all night. The news is, that I am going to take you on the Continent for a month--as many of you as want to go." Naomi spoke first. "But, Kent," she said, "how----?" "Hush!" I said. Then I took my pocketbook out of my pocket, opened it, extracted a slip of paper, unfolded it, and laid it on the table before her. "There," I said, "is a cheque for £483 10s. 3d. It came to me this morning all unexpectedly, being the payment of a debt which I had long since given up hope of ever receiving. In other words, it is sheer profit, like all repaid loans. "If we can all go to the Continent for a month on that amount," I continued, "let us do so. If not, let us go for three weeks or a fortnight. But I intend to take some of you, if not all. "The question is," I went on, "where shall we go? We must debate the point with great care, and the majority will decide. I, I may say at once, have no preference. All I want to do is go to the Continent for a month and pay everything, provided of course that some one else will carry the purse. That I could never do." "Dollie would love it," said Drusilla. "Besides, he can talk French like a----" "Like a french polisher," said Lionel, who has a turn for mechanical wit. "Ah!" I said, "you lean towards France." "Does he know Italian?" asked my step-sister. "We seem to be crossing the Alps," I said. "But, my dear Kent," Naomi remarked very earnestly, "you don't really mean to spend all that money on a holiday?" "Why not," I asked, "if it comes from a clear sky? Let us consider it manna and quails, and consume it." "I certainly should not dream of going," Naomi replied, "unless you promised at least to halve the amount and use the other half for some other purpose--helping some of my poor people, for example." I threw the cheque to Naomi. "There," I said, "put it in the bank, and when we are ready to go, give us exactly half of it, and we will stay away until it is spent or we are all tired of seeing each other at _table d'hôte_. The other half you must do with exactly as you will." "You dear thing!" Naomi cried. All through dinner we discussed the merits of Continental resorts. We began with France. Lionel suggested Trouville; but his sisters would have none of it. "Then I can't go," he said. "I couldn't possibly be away for more than a few days until the season closes. We've got several matches yet." Drusilla also remarked that she did not want to be away for so long as a month, but would not explain why.