‘At the first house a proud but pretty parlour-maid told me that it was not usual to show furnished houses at that hour, but I could call again at eleven. At the second house there was only a caretaker. That left me with, so to speak, four cartridges and three birds to kill. I hurried on to the third house, which was half a mile away. By a bit of luck I met the owner on the doorstep, and told him my alleged business. ‘“You’re very early,” he said. “Why, we haven’t had breakfast yet.” ‘“No more have I,” I said. “But last year I lost a good house through being too late, and I thought I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.” ‘He was a genial old chap. He said the best thing I could do was to come in and breakfast with him, and by the time I had finished the servants would have got the bedrooms tidied up. I did my best to accept with decent hesitation. ‘At lunch-time I tried the fourth house on my list and struck another caretaker. I couldn’t afford another miss. I got lunch at the fifth house, but I had to be no end complimentary before I could get them up to the point. In fact, it wasn’t till I told the woman that her pimply-faced son was a fine upstanding young fellow that she decided to order the extra chop. ‘But at the sixth house I had no trouble about dinner. The owner turned out to be a friend of a friend of mine. He fetched up a bottle of the ’87 in my honour and insisted on my stopping the night. ‘They were all _pukka_ meals, and all the conditions were observed. Am I a winner, Mr Chairman?’ ‘Certainly. Does anybody else claim to be a winner?’ ‘I do,’ said Dr Alden. ‘The day before yesterday a doctor rang me up and asked me to see a patient of his—a woman with a wealthy, devoted, and very nervous husband. That was at eight in the morning. My car happened to be at the door, and it suited me to go right away. I saw the patient, was able to reassure the husband, and had breakfast with him. Later in the morning a man was introduced to me who was interested in old glass and had heard of me as a collector. He was very keen that I should lunch with him and see what he had got. He was a pleasant chap and I accepted. When I got back, a doctor, quite an old pal of mine, said that he was going to take me to dine that night with a man I had never seen before. It seemed that the stranger had staying with him for one night a French specialist in my own line. The Frenchman was anxious to meet me, and his host was anxious to please him. So he had tried to arrange it through a mutual friend. I was myself keen to meet that Frenchman, and so he succeeded. ‘Of course, I didn’t arrange all this—couldn’t have arranged it. As a matter of fact, I had never intended to compete this time. But destiny decided to take a hand in this competition. I claim to be a winner.’