_Spurr._ More comfortable! I believe you. Why, I assure you I feel like a Bath bun in a baby's sock! But how was I to know? You shouldn't leave your things about like that! _Und._ It is usual, Sir, for people to come to a place like this provided with evening clothes of their own. _Spurr._ I know that as well as you do. Don't you suppose I'm unacquainted with the usages of society! Why, I've stayed in boarding-houses at the seaside many a time where it was de rigger to dress--even for high tea! But coming down, as I did, on business, it never entered my head that I should want my dress suit. So when I found them all as chummy and friendly as possible, and expecting me to dine as a matter of course,--why, I can tell you I was too jolly glad to get hold of anything in the shape of a swallowtail and white choker to be over particular! _Und._ You seem to have been more fortunate in your reception than I. But then _I_ had not the advantage of being here in a business capacity. _Spurr._ Well, it wasn't that altogether. You see, I'm a kind of a celebrity in my way. _Und._ I should hardly have thought _that_ would be a recommendation here. _Spurr._ I was surprised myself to find what a lot they thought of it; but, bless you, they're all as civil as shopwalkers; and, as for the ladies, why, the old Countess and Lady MAISIE and Lady RHODA couldn't be more complimentary if I'd won the Victoria Cross, instead of getting a first prize for breeding and exhibiting a bull bitch at CRUFT'S Dog Show! _Und. (bitterly, to himself)._ And this is our aristocracy! They make a bosom friend of a breeder of dogs; and find a poet only fit to associate with their servants! What a theme for a satirist! (_Aloud._) I see nothing to wonder at. You possess precisely the social qualifications most likely to appeal to the leisured class. _Spurr._ Oh, there's a lot of humbug in it, mind you! Most of 'em know about as much of the points of a bull as the points of a compass, only they let on to know a lot because they think it's smart. And some of 'em are after a pup from old Drummy's next litter. _I_ see through all that, you know! _Und._ You are a cynic, I observe, Sir. But possibly the nature of the business which brings you here renders them---- _Spurr._ That's the rummest thing about it. I haven't heard a word about that yet. I'm in the veterinary profession, you know. Well, they sent for me to see some blooming horse, and never even ask me to go near it! Seems odd, don't it? _Und. (to himself)._ _I_ had to go near the blooming horse! Now I begin to understand; the very servants did not expect to find a professional vet in any company but their own! (_Aloud._) I--I trust that the horse will not suffer through any delay. _Spurr._ So do I; but how do I know that some ignorant duffer mayn't be treating him for the wrong thing? It may be all up with the animal before I get a chance of seeing what I can do!