"There's no one there at present," he replied, "except old Donald Ross and his wife. I want to sell the place if I can; it's no good to us." "Oh, don't sell it," I protested. "It's the only one of our numerous family mansions I could ever stand." Then I paused. "I left a boat there last time I was in England," I added. "I wonder what's happened to it?" "I should imagine it was there still," replied George. I laughed, and finished my champagne. "I wasn't suggesting you'd pawned it, George," I said. A sense of humour not being my brother's strong point, this little pleasantry fell on stony ground. "Aren't we wandering rather from the point?" he asked. "Not a bit," I said, with some cheerfulness. "I was just thinking that if I'm booked to go to Grendon in ten days' time it's highly necessary that I should have a short holiday first. A smart country house-party bang on top of two months of London would just about finish me." "Well?" said George, raising his eyebrows. "Well, that's why I inquired about the boat," I finished. "I could just put in a week's sailing nicely, and write my paper for the _Fortnightly_ at the same time." George looked at me with a kind of pitying interest. "Am I to understand that you intend sailing about the coast of Scotland for a week by yourself?" I nodded. "A certain amount of solitude," I observed, "is necessary for the production of great literature." George shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose you are serious. Personally I should find it difficult to imagine anything less enjoyable, or anything less conducive to work." "I shan't be sailing all the time," I explained. "I shall make a snug little base on Kerrin Island, and do my scribbling there." "Kerrin Island!" repeated George incredulously. "Why, the place is deserted. No one has been there for years." "Yes, they have, George," I said. "I spent a fortnight there last time I was home, and, what's more, I built myself a most superior hut. Unless some of the fisher-boys have been monkeying around, it ought to be as sound as ever. I took a lot of trouble over that hut." At this point George, who had been consulting his watch, apparently decided that I had wasted quite enough of his time for the present. "Well, please yourself," he said, beckoning the waiter with a peremptory wave of his hand. "So long as you go to Grendon I suppose that's all we can expect. I shall hope to hear soon, however, that you are adopting some really serious and permanent interest in life." "If it should take the form of an heiress, George," I said, "I will wire you at once without fail." * * * * * * *