me in a liking for Margaret Hugonin. And speaking for myself, I can

assure you that I have come long ago to regard her faults with the

same leniency that I accord my own.

[II]

We begin on a fine May morning in Colonel Hugonin's rooms at Selwoode,

which is, as you may or may not know, the Hugonins' country-place.

And there we discover the Colonel dawdling over his breakfast, in an

intermediate stage of that careful toilet which enables him later in

the day to pass casual inspection as turning forty-nine.

At present the old gentleman is discussing the members of his