“Well, if you go and live in Leppard Street you’ll lose the best girl you’ve got straight off. That’s all there is to it.” “You don’t understand. This girl I used to know has gone wrong, and I want to find her and marry her.” It seemed to Michael that Barnes’ manner changed in some scarcely definable way when he made this announcement. He pocketed the five pounds and invited Michael to come to Leppard Street whenever he liked. He was evidently no longer suspicious of his sincerity, and a perky, an almost cunning cordiality had replaced the disheartened cynicism of his former attitude. It encouraged Michael to see how obviously his resolve had impressed Barnes. He accepted it as an augury of good hap. Involuntarily he waited for his praise; and when Barnes made no allusion to the merit of his action, he ascribed his silence to emotion. This was proving really a most delightful example of the truth of his theory. And it was clever of Barnes—it was more than clever, it was truly imaginative of him—to realize without another question the need to leave for a while Cheyne Walk. “But is there a vacant room?” Michael asked in sudden dread of disappointment. “Look here, you’d better see the place before you decide on leaving here,” Barnes advised. “It isn’t a cross between Buckingham Palace and the Carlton, you know.” “I suppose it’s the name that attracts me,” said Michael. “It sounds ferocious.” “I don’t know about the name, but old Ma Cleghorne who keeps the house is ferocious enough. Never mind.” He jingled the five sovereigns. “I’ll go up and pack,” said Michael. “By the way, I haven’t told you yet that I was run in last night.” “In quod you mean?” asked Barnes. “Whatever for?” “Drunk and disorderly in Leicester Square.” “These coppers are the limit,” said Barnes emphatically. “The absolute limit. Really. They’ll pinch the Archbishop of Canterbury for looking into Stagg and Mantle’s window before we know where we are.” Michael left Barnes in the drawing-room, and as he turned in the doorway to see if he was at his ease, he thought the visitor and the macaw on its perch were about equally exotic.