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Marryatt came and sat with them at dinner⁠—a situation which called forth Reeves' utmost powers of self-control. He was glad that Carmichael was there too; glad that he had not communicated to him the suspicions which he had just come to entertain. He could not help admiring the easy way in which Gordon managed to conceal his suspicions, talking to Marryatt in his ordinary vein of rather pawky pleasantry.

"Well, Marryatt, how was the collection?" was the first sample of it.

"Normal, thank you. It's fortunate that I don't depend on it for my livelihood, or you would have to wait some time for that half-crown I owe you."

"And how was the choir on the top notes?"

"There and thereabouts," said Marryatt cautiously.

"Do you know," Carmichael put in, "there's a passage in Longfellow's 'Village Blacksmith' which has always seemed to me a curious example of amphibology. The blacksmith, if you remember, is said to go on Sunday to the church, where he 'hears the