It was at this point that Nick himself pushed open the door with a peremptory, "Now then, Olga, what about your promise? Hullo!" He stopped short, and stood blinking rapidly at the visitor. "I thought it was Hunt-Goring you had got here," he observed. "Introduce me, please!" Olga hesitated in momentary confusion. "Max didn't tell me your name, you know," she said to the stranger. "This is Captain Ratcliffe of Wara." "Monkey!" said Nick briefly. "Plain Ratcliffe of no-where in particular is my description." The big man rose with outstretched hand. "I know you well by repute, and I am very pleased to meet you. My name is Whitton--Kersley Whitton." "Goodness!" ejaculated Olga. "Max might have told me!" He laughed at her quietly. "Told you what? Didn't he say I was a friend of his?" "So you've been entertaining a celebrity unawares!" laughed Nick. "I hope you have been on your best behaviour, my child." "But Miss Ratcliffe must be accustomed to celebrities," said Sir Kersley Whitton, "since she has to entertain you and Max Wyndham every day." "Is Max a celebrity too, then?" asked Olga quickly. "He is going to be one," the great doctor answered, with conviction. "You mean he will--someday--be like you?" she said. He smiled at that. "He will be a greater man than I am," he said. "An interesting collection!" commented Nick. "Heroes past, present, and to come! You will pardon me for putting myself first. My little halo went out long ago." "Nick! How absurd you are!" "My dear, it's my _role_ to be absurd. I am the clown in every tragedy I come across--the comic relief man--the buffoon in every side-show. Hence my Frontier laurels, because I kept on dancing when everyone else was dead. The world likes dancers--virtuous or otherwise." Nick broke off with his elastic grimace. "If I go on, you'll think I'm trying to be clever. Sir Kersley, come and have a drink!" "I'm bringing drinks," said Max's voice from the hall. "I say, Ratcliffe,"--he entered with the words--"do go and dislodge that leech Goring. He's in the garden with Miss Campion. Tell him I don't want to see either him or his beastly thumb for a week. I'll call in next Sunday, if I've nothing better to do. Say I'm engaged if he asks for me now." "I'll say you're dead if you like," said Nick cheerily. "Shall I say you're dead too, Olga?" "Say she's engaged also," said Max. Olga glanced up sharply, but he was not looking at her. He was occupied in pouring out a drink for his friend, which he brought to him almost immediately. "That's how you like it measured to a drop. Sorry there's no ice to be had. It doesn't grow in these parts." "I'd have got out the best glass if I'd known," murmured Olga regretfully. Max threw up his head and laughed. "What a good thing I didn't tell her, eh, Kersley?" He leaned a careless hand on Sir Kersley's shoulder. "She doesn't know what a taste you have for the simple life."