“Will you shut up, or have I got to throw you into a rose bed?” shouted the harassed Alec. “I’ll shut up,” said Roger promptly. “But only on William’s account; please understand that. I feel that William would simply hate to see me land on one of his cherished rose bushes. It would depress him more than ever, and I shrink from contemplating what that might mean. In passing, how is it that you were coming from the direction of the lodge just now and not from the house?” “You’re infernally curious this morning,” Alec smiled. “If you want to know, I’ve been down to the village.” “So early? Alec, there must be something wrong with you, after all. And why on earth have you been down to the village?” “To—well, if you must have it, to post a letter,” said Alec reluctantly. “Ah! A letter so important, so remarkably urgent that it couldn’t wait for the ordinary collection from the house?” Roger mused with interest. “Now I wonder if that letter could have been addressed, let us say, to _The Times_? ‘Marvellous, Holmes! How could you have surmised that?’ ‘You know my methods, Watson. It is only necessary to apply them.’ Well, Alexander Watson, am I right?” “You’re not,” said Alec shortly. “It was to my bookmaker.” “Well, all I can say is that it ought to have been to _The Times_,” retorted Roger indignantly. “In fact, I don’t mind going so far as to add that it’s hardly playing the game on your part that it shouldn’t have been to _The Times_. Here you go laying a careful train of facts all pointing to the conclusion that this miserable letter of yours was to _The Times_, and then you turn round and announce calmly that it was to your bookmaker. If it comes to that, why write to your bookmaker at all? A telegram is the correct medium for conducting a correspondence with one’s bookmaker. Surely you know that?” “Doesn’t it ever hurt you?” Alec sighed wearily. “Don’t you ever put your larynx out of joint or something? I should have thought that——” “Yes, I should have liked to hear your little medical lecture so much,” Roger interrupted rapidly, with a perfectly grave face. “Unfortunately a previous engagement of the most pressing urgency robs me of the pleasure. I’ve just remembered that I’ve got to go and see a man about—— Now what was it about? Oh, yes! I remember. A goat! Well, good-bye, Alec. See you at breakfast, I hope.” He seized his astonished companion’s hand, shook it affectionately, and walked quickly away in the direction of the village. Alec gazed after him with open mouth. In spite of the length of their acquaintance, he had never got quite used to Roger. A light tread on the grass behind him caused him to turn round, and what he saw supplied the reason for Roger’s hurried departure. A quick smile of appreciation flitted across his face. Then he hurried eagerly forward, and all thought of Roger was wiped from his mind. So soon are we forgotten when somebody more important comes along.