"Where you been, Daddy?"

"I been bicycling," responded daddy affably and saluted every one, beginning with Val and ending with Rupert. "That's where I been!"

"Bicycling! What a thing!" cried Haidee, while Val made him fresh tea. "How could you come through Cannes such a sight, Garry?"

"What's the matter with me? I feel good in these togs. In future I shall always dress like this."

Haidee shuddered.

"You did n't go to Paris after all?"

"No, Haidee, I did not go to Paris. I hired a bicycle, bought this bicycling suit you don't admire, and took to the open road. There isn't any village between here and Toulon that I haven't explored inside out, nor any 'café débitant' where I have n't sampled the chianti or the astispumanti or anything else that was tanti."

"But what for, Garry? Why?"

"I had some thinking to do," said Garry, "and I thought I could do it better on a bicycle than in Paris."

"Have you thought about when you're going to take me in a ship, Daddy?"