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Why a kilt and yards of gaiters? Why a hat like a Colonial horse marine?" "Oh, this is the uniform of a bus-conductor," replied Jay. Kew scanned it with distaste. Presently he said, "Don't you think you'd better give it up? Buy a new hat with a day's earnings, and get the sack." "I can't quarrel with my bread and butter," said Jay. "Surely this is only jam," said Kew.

It must stop at once, and if I had time I would stop it myself. I have unfortunately sworn not to give her away to the Family, so I come to you. She is a 'bus-conductor." Mr. Russell refrained from jumping. I believe he had expected it. But he said, "It would be too funny." Kew looked at him nervously, fearing for a moment lest Mrs. Russell's sense of humour had proved infectious. Mr.

And I think if you don't believe it all, it is none the less true for that, because in that case you are the sort of person who believes a thing less the truer it is. If Jay's Family did not know she was a 'bus-conductor, and did not know she was a story-possessor, what did it know about her? As Families go, it was fairly well informed about her. The Family was a rather promiscuous one.

"Oh well," said Mr. Russell, "you asked me to tell you no facts." Mr. Russell was not observant. He was not sufficiently alive to be observant. He was much occupied in remembering phantom yesterdays, and I do not think he listened very much to what the 'bus-conductor said. He only enjoyed the sound of her voice, which he remembered. So he did not know that she was unhappy.

She wrote the following letter: DEAR SIR Don't you remember, I was to meet you anyway on the steps of St. Paul's at ten o'clock next Sunday? I will wait till then for the message. Yours faithfully, JANE ELIZABETH MARTIN, 'Bus-conductor. "That letter ought to put two and two together for him," she thought, "if he hasn't done it already. It's a complicated little sum, and the result is what?"

In spite of a chorus of nervous assent from all his flock, and the blushing disappearance of the two superfluous standers, the 'bus-conductor continued his lament in this strain. To the man with a small but loud grievance, sympathy is a fatal offering. The 'bus-conductor had a round red nose, and very defective teeth. Kew studied him in a new light, for this was Jay's fellow-worker.

The police would see the top seats of the 'bus sticking out at low tide, and the verdict would be, 'Suicide while of even more than usually unsound mind." A 'bus has an unromantic voice. The bass is a snarl, and the treble is made up of a shrill rattle. It was curious how this 'bus managed to retain withal its fantastic atmosphere. Mr. Russell asked presently, "Why are you a 'bus-conductor?"

"Oh, any search is pleasure," said the bus-conductor. "Especially if it's an abstract search." "'Tisn't," said Mr. Russell. "'T's a search for a person." The 'bus-conductor looked at the sky. "And are Anonyma and Kew going too?" she thought. You must bear in mind that she had deliberately plucked him from the side of Anonyma. "Perhaps any pleasure is wrong in these days," she said.

"I thought your wife hailed me, sir," lied the 'bus-conductor. Any allusion to his wife mildly annoyed Mr. Russell. "Not my wife," he said. "Merely a friend." "Oh, I beg your pardon, sir," said the 'bus-conductor, and underlined the "beg" with the ting of her ticket-puncher. She was rather a darling 'bus-conductor, because she was also Jay.

She should bid her stay at home and mind her baby." "By-the-bye, what truth is there in that story? The Naples affair, you know?" "N'en sais rien. But I hear odd things about her husband. Mr. Bickerdike knew him a few years ago. He ran through a fortune, and fell into most disreputable ways of life. Somebody was saying that he got his living as 'bus-conductor, or something of the kind."