“Sir,” he observed to Stubbs, with the simple grace of touch that gave his every action charm, “I understand you to be an authority upon _Rotifera_. I should like your advice upon the mounting of certain specimens of _Bdelloidaceæ_ that I have just obtained!” Stubbs broke off half-way in a stream of adjectives beginning with the second and fourth letters of the alphabet, and stared; and everybody round, after a momentary impression that Hamer was drunk, too, wagged their heads and repeated “_Bdelloidaceæ!_” in a loud chorus, as if it were some kind of charm, until Stubbs himself began to say any bits of it that came foremost, without in the least meaning to. “I have also some fine samples of _Pedalionidæ_,” Hamer continued in his comforting tones, motioning Lancaster to call up his car as he engineered the offender towards the rope. “A remarkable species--most remarkable!--but perfectly familiar to you, I’ve no doubt. The _Flosculariaceæ_, too, not to speak of the _Philodinaceæ_--here we are, and mind the step!” Stubbs made one last attempt to get up steam, but was throttled with a fresh animalculæ, hustled into the car and driven off. Lanty came back to the girls. “I’m to drive you home, if you’ll allow me,” he said to Dandy; and “Can I find your bicycle?” to Harriet. “The third round will be through in a few minutes, but I’ll hand my job over to somebody, and we’ll clear off at once, if you like. Your man has the horse, so he’s all right. You’ve done well, to-day, haven’t you? How many firsts did you get? You and Wild Duck are bad to beat!” Harriet grunted, but her face relaxed. It hardened again, however, as she stood up and took a last defiant look round before walking off the field. She cycled home behind the dog-cart, counting the times Lancaster’s eyes were turned to Dandy’s face. She was a trifle cheered when it began to rain heavily, and she was able to hand over the carriage-umbrella with an air of patronage, and splash along bravely in Burberry and K.; but, in spite of the “firsts,” in spite of having been proved infallible, her cup of bitterness, that day, was full. Helwise chattered all the way as blithely as if erring fathers and shamed daughters did not exist. Bluecaster, it seemed, had promised the bath.