“Working at what?”

“Now, there again you stump me somewhat!  The general scheme was that I should kind of look round, you know, and nose about and buzz to and fro till something turned up.  That was, broadly speaking, the notion!”

“And how did you suppose my daughter was to live while you were doing all this?”

“Well, I think,” said Archie, “I think we rather expected you to rally round a bit for the nonce!”

“I see!  You expected to live on me?”

“Well, you put it a bit crudely, but—­as far as I had mapped anything out—­that was what you might call the general scheme of procedure.  You don’t think much of it, what?  Yes?  No?”

Mr. Brewster exploded.

“No!  I do not think much of it!  Good God!  You go out of my hotel—­my hotel—­calling it all the names you could think of—­roasting it to beat the band—­”

“Trifle hasty!” murmured Archie, apologetically.  “Spoke without thinking.  Dashed tap had gone drip-drip-drip all night—­kept me awake—­hadn’t had breakfast—­bygones be bygones—!”

“Don’t interrupt!  I say, you go out of my hotel, knocking it as no one has ever knocked it since it was built, and you sneak straight off and marry my daughter without my knowledge.”

“Did think of wiring for blessing.  Slipped the old bean, somehow.  You know how one forgets things!”

“And now you come back and calmly expect me to fling my arms round you and kiss you, and support you for the rest of your life!”

“Only while I’m nosing about and buzzing to and fro.”

“Well, I suppose I’ve got to support you.  There seems no way out of it.  I’ll tell you exactly what I propose to do.  You think my hotel is a pretty poor hotel, eh?  Well, you’ll have plenty of opportunity of judging, because you’re coming to live here.  I’ll let you have a suite and I’ll let you have your meals, but outside of that—­nothing doing!  Nothing doing!  Do you understand what I mean?”

“Absolutely!  You mean, ‘Napoo!’”

“You can sign bills for a reasonable amount in my restaurant, and the hotel will look after your laundry.  But not a cent do you get out me.  And, if you want your shoes shined, you can pay for it yourself in the basement.  If you leave them outside your door, I’ll instruct the floor-waiter to throw them down the air-shaft.  Do you understand?  Good!  Now, is there anything more you want to ask?”

Archie smiled a propitiatory smile.

“Well, as a matter of fact, I was going to ask if you would stagger along and have a bite with us in the grill-room?”

“I will not!”

“I’ll sign the bill,” said Archie, ingratiatingly.  “You don’t think much of it?  Oh, right-o!”

CHAPTER IV

WORK WANTED