'What!'
Then Humphrey dropped down at Mildred's feet, and laughed, softly at first, then with increasing vigour.
Mildred clapped her hand over his mouth and ran him down the stairs and through into the living-room. There they dropped side by side on the sofa and laughed until tears came.
Corinne, laughing a little herself now, but perplexed, followed them.
'Here,' said Humphrey, when he could speak, 'let's get into this.'
They moved, to the table. Humphrey spread out the pages, and skimmed them over with a practised eye, arranging as he read.
Once he muttered, 'What on earth!' And shortly after: 'Why, the young devil!'
'Please—' said Corinne. 'Please! I want to know what it is.',
Humphrey stacked up the sheets, and laid them on the table.
'Well,' he remarked, 'it is certainly an account of the Business Men's Picnic. And it certainly was not written for The Weekly Voice of Sunbury. I'll start in a minute and read it through. But from what I've seen—— Well, while it may be a little Kiplingesque—naturally—still it comes pretty close to being a work of art.