"But what's done can't be undone, and the best way to mend a bad job would be to make a bed for ornamental annuals. Yes, sir, a nice bed in the shape of a star--or a shell." "No thanks, Huggins, I should prefer grass again, even if for a year or two the lawn does look as if it had been recently vaccinated." John's Christmas enthusiasm had been thoroughly damped by the atmosphere of Ambles and he regretted that he had let himself be persuaded into coming down two days earlier than he had intended. It had been Mrs. Worfolk's fault, and when his housekeeper approached him with a complaint about the way things were being managed in the kitchen John told her rather sharply that she must make the best of the present arrangements, exercise as much tact as possible, and remember that Christmas was a season when discontent was out of fashion. Then he retreated to the twenty-acre field to lose a few golf-balls. Alas, he had forgotten that Laurence had proclaimed himself to be in a holiday humor and was bored to find that this was so expansive as to include an ambition to see if golf was as difficult as people said. "You can try a stroke if you really want to," John offered, grudgingly. "I understand that the theory of striking involves the correct application of the hands to the club," said the novice. "I set much store by the old adage that well begun is half done." "The main thing is to hit the ball." "I've no doubt whatever about being able to hit the ball; but if I decide to adopt golf as a recreation from my dramatic work I wish to acquire a good style at the outset," Laurence intoned, picking up the club as solemnly as if he was going to baptize it. "What is your advice about the forefinger of my left hand? It feels to me somewhat ubiquitous. I assume that there is some inhibition upon excessive fidgeting." "Keep your eye on the ball," John gruffly advised him. "And don't shift your position." "One, two, three," murmured Laurence, raising the club above his shoulder. "Fore!" John shouted to a rash member of the household who was crossing the line of fire. A lump of turf was propelled a few feet in the direction of the admonished figure, and the ball was hammered down into the soft earth. "You distracted me by counting four," Laurence protested. "My intention was to strike at three. However, if at first you don't succeed...."