"If all goes well, about six o'clock this evening."
"I see," said Mr. Stillbottle comprehendingly. "Carriages at five-forty-five--eh?"
"Precisely," said Mr. Welwyn. "You have hit off the situation to a nicety." He laughed, in high spirits. His resilient nature had entirely recovered from the humiliation of the morning. "Meanwhile"--he produced a sheet of note-paper--"I shall be obliged if you will kindly commit these notes to memory."
Mr. Stillbottle laboriously perused the document.
"Lord love a duck!" he observed in a dazed voice--"What's this?"
"A list of--let us say, your entrances and exits this afternoon," explained Mr. Welwyn smoothly. "You understand theatrical terms, I believe."
He had struck the right chord. Mr. Stillbottle's rheumy eye lit up.
"Entrances and ex-- oho! Now I begin to take you," he said. "We 're agoin' to do drawing-room theatricals, are we? Kind o' benefit matinée--eh?"
"In a sense, yes," replied Mr. Welwyn. "Are you endowed with the dramatic instinct?"
"Come again!" said Mr. Stillbottle politely.