thinkin' of buyin' anythin', Major, that's me card, an' I'll be very
'appy to ac' for you."

"Thanks, I don't think----"

"All right, Major, all right. Only if you should, I'm always about," he
added hastily, turning away in response to a cry which had arisen for
"Mr. 'Olly." "Comin', comin'!" he cried, making for what I took to be
the drawing room.

I slipped his card into my pocket and we passed on.

The tallboy chest was standing alone in its dignity at the top of the
broad staircase.

The moment I saw it I knew it was good stuff. And Jill gave a little cry
and began to chatter, till I laid my hand on her arm with a warning
pressure.

"Hush," I said quickly, "don't give it away. Of course they all know
it's good, but we needn't seem over-anxious. Try and look as if you
thought it might do for the harness-room if it was enamelled."

"O-o-oh, Boy."

Such chests may be handsome and--rarely--elegant, but this was dainty.
Standing upon short cabriole legs, it was small, but of exquisite
proportions, and had been built, I judged, in the reign of Queen Anne.
The walnut which had gone to its making was picked wood, and its drawers
were faced with oyster-shell and inlaid with box. Their handles were