Three Men and a Maid

nt watering-place, Bingley-on-the-Sea, in Sussex. All watering-places on the South Coast of England are blots on the landscape, but, though I am aware that by saying it I shall offend the civi

spair of all the other Swiss waiters at all the other Hotels Magnificent along the coast. For dreariness of aspect Bingley-on-the-Sea stan

nna? Why, with all the rest of England at his disposal, h

ing off alone to the most benighted spot he knew, in the same spirit as other

ce and the cooking there had at least done much to take his mind off it. His heart still ached, but he felt equal to

ut trains, observed a familiar figure in the lobby. Eustace Hignett

ustace!"

am!" said

had been a little unfortunately chosen, for it reminde

doing here?"

u doing here

bleak esplanade. A fine rain had begun to fall, and Bingley looked, if possible, wor

u want to se

ld man, I'm in

s the

g story," said Eus

ah

now where

t starting at

randed crab on the beach below.

telling you about the g

Some

Eustace reverently. "

. You t

t began to look to me as though I was in the soup. And then she told me something which gave me an idea. She said the Bennetts had invited her to stay with them in the country when she got to England, Old

what?" a

aid

hy

interrupt, old man, or you'l

n't k

r wouldn't hear of it and gave them both the miss-in-baulk. It suddenly occurred to me that mother was going to be away in America all the summer, so why shouldn't I

et Win

ck for a moment at the suggestion that I should stick on at the house. Said he would be delighted to have me there, and wrote out a fat check on the spot. We hired a car and drove stra

am as though desiring comm

ugh you had done yourself a bit of good. You've got the check, and

other gets to

el

er than a sun

why should sh

coming

ome more of

te a

" said Sam

aves were crawling with their usual sluggish air of wishing themselves else

er that really st

ted w

ort of weather have

en't n

g spent all their lives in America, don't you know, they weren't used to a country where it rained all the time, and pretty soon it began to get on their nerves. They started quarrelling. Nothing bad a

's S

, but Mortimer insists on letting him roam about the house. Well, they scrapped a goo

own at Windles si

f these automatic things you switch on, you know. Makes a devil of a row. Bennett can't stand

his affects you. If they wan

s talking about taking legal advice to see if he can't induce Mortimer to cheese it by law as he can't be stopped any oth

the pater a bit of

is arms despairingly at

to the fact that Windles has been let, and he'll nose about and make enquiries, and the firs

pond

's that," h

u see what a

hat are you goin

nly person wh

can

and sign on. Then, if Bennett does blow in for advice, you can fix it somehow that he sees you instead of your father, and it'll be all right. You can easily work

hing about the law. Wh

vice business is quite simple. Anything that isn't a tort is a misdemeanour. You've simp

the word

or

does i

y nobody knows. But it

on't fo

. Rig

ck your things. There's a trai

o the hotel. Sam g

he said, "Er-how i

ed a gay air. Sam's ready acquiescence in h

?" said Sam,

eaking terms. It's rummy how the passage of time sort of changes a fellow's point of view. Why, when sh

imed Sam, leaping like

gug-gug-

d Eustace Hignett. "She got engage