"What's hurry, prince? Have li'l drink."
But Pete, even under the warm pressure of hospitality, had not forgotten the lady in the summer-house. He felt certain that she was becoming alarmed; he feared that she might even attempt an exploration on her own account.
"Viscount," observed the lord of the manor, once more linking arms, "you're greates' cowboy pool player in world. Extraord'nary! I'm next greates'. Any gentleman beats me welcome anything I got."
They had progressed as far as the library, where his host halted.
"Anything I got," he repeated, with a wave of his arm. "'Sall yours. Anything you see—'s yours. What'll it be?"
It occurred to Pete that so generous an invitation to trespass further upon hospitality should not be ignored.
"If you could loan me a pair of shoes," he suggested, "I would be greatly indebted to you."
"Dozen pair shoes!" said the stout gentleman earnestly.
"And a hat—a lady's hat."