Love Among the Chickens

ts. The present one belonge

re forexplanations. An Irishman's croquet-lawn is his castle, and

conversation was opened by theother man, in whose restraining hand Aunt Elizabeth now lay, outwardlyresigned but inwardly, as I, who knew her haughty spirit, could guess,b

resented aquaint appearance. I had removed my hat before entering the hedge, andmy hair was full of twigs and other

I began, and ended th

o my guilty conscience to be lookingthrough me. Aunt Elizabeth sneered. The only friendly face was the

ong breath,

veral, and

for this intrusion,"

I did--didn't know there was a private garden beyond the hedge. Ifyou will give me my hen . . ."I stopped. Aunt Elizabeth was looking away, as if endeavouring tocreate an impression of having nothing

rt, the letting go, all right. It was in my department, thetaking hold, that the thing was bungled. Aunt Elizabeth slipped frommy grasp like a

fied retreat. You must know the way out. It was the lack of thatknowledge that kept me standing there, looking more foolish thananyone has ever looked since the world began. I could not retire byway of the hed

t Elizabeth, made us friends. In the first minute of theproceedings the Irishman was addressing me as "me dear boy," and theman, who had introduced himself as Mr. Chase--a lieutenant, I learnedlater, in His Maje

isturbing moment I could not help noticing his use ofthe Christian name. It seemed to me more than sinister. I did not likethe id

s. The moreI study hens, the more things they seem able to get along without--which abruptly disturbed her calm detachment.

e said, only done hisduty, as expected to by England. He then introduced me to the elderlyIrishman, who was, it seemed, a professor at Dublin Uni

he always spent his

outat Yeovil, I thought I had seen the last of you."I think I am gi

r forget a face.""It would be a kindness," said Mr. Chase, "if you would forgetGarnet's as now exhibited. You seem to have collected a good deal ofthe s

nvenience to hisarrangements, was overruled, and went off with my friend thelieutenant to the house. We imprisoned Aunt Elizabet

hospitably laying out achange of raiment for me

you this for your good and guidance; a man wants a chart in a strangesea--he can cut up rough. And, when he does, he goes off like a four-point-seven and the po

. Chatty remarks on Bimetallism wouldmeet with his earnest attention. A lecture on What to do with th

tor's orders? Many doctors,I believe, insist on it.""Neither," I said, "and especially not for amusement. The fact is,I've been lured down here by a friend of mine who has start

ers it an advantage. He says our minds ought to be unbiassed.""Ukridge!" said the professor. "That was the name old Dawlish, thegrocer, said. I never forget a name. He is the gentleman who lectureson the management of poultry? You do not?"I hastened to disclaim any such feat. I had never really approved ofthese infernal talks on the art of chicken-farming which Ukrid

lar," said Phyllis Derrick wi

oys them,

mercial speculation, or ishe an eccentric millionaire?""He's not a millionaire yet, but I believe he intends to be oneshortly, with the assistance of the fowls. But you mustn't look on meas in any way responsible for the arrangements at the farm. I ammerely a labourer. The brainwork of the business lies in Uk

t after lunch,--a game of w

alittle better than myself; the professor, by dint of extremeearnest

is Jeremy, Miss Derrick.""Oh, you wrote it?" She turned a little pink. "Then you must have--oh,nothing.""I couldn't help it, I'm afraid.""Did you know what I was going to say?""I guessed. You were going to say that I

un was setting as I left to return to the farm, with Aunt Elizabethstored neatly in a basket in my hand. The air was deliciously cool,and full of that strange quiet which follows soothingly on the

essed th

nice to me. Very nice inde

ally polite to any other man whom she hadhappened to meet at her father's house. Moreover, I

her Phylli

et, in that beastlycynical, satirical way which ha