Mr. Fletcher stayed George, following. “Mr. George, did you shut up secure behind Miss Margaret?”
George reassured him; questioned his earnestness.
Mr. Fletcher pointed through a window that gave upon the garden. “I've the 'orrors on me to-night,” he said. “According to Master there's rapine lurking in them bushes. Mr. George, what'll I do if there's rapine beneath this roof to-night?”
“Catch it firmly by the back of the neck and hold its head in a bucket of water,” George told him.
Mr. Fletcher passed, pondering the suggestion. “Only something to do with rats after all,” he cogitated with wan smile of relief.
IV.
Margaret, at her father's bedside, luxuriously mouthed the fine phrases of the Book of Job which nightly she read him. Her chapter finished, she inquired: “Shall I read on?”
“Does Job continue?”
“No, father. The next begins, 'Then answered Bildad, the Shuite.'”
George coughed upon the threshold.