Flash.—Smoke.
Pendell comes up. "Um!—aha!" he says; "narrow escape!" He has not been stung.
The Field is pulling itself together again. Pendell chuckles. "Did you see Old Ruddock?" he asks. "There were two wasps at him."
No! It appears that Old Ruddock has been quite close to me throughout the day. Yet there was no laughing crowd, and I haven't heard one of Ruddock's jokes bruited about. Odd. Wonder how the wasps liked Ruddock.
COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON.
Squire (who interests himself with the Moral and Material Condition of his Peasantry). "Hullo, Woodruff! what an Eye you've got! How did you get that?!"
Labourer. "O, it's nawthin' Partic'lar, Sir. Last Night—at the White 'Art, Sir. But—(in extenuation)—Chrishmash Time, Sir—on'y Once a Year!"