Tinker thought a while, made up his mind that his father would like to go to the South of France, and said, "I think I'm hard enough, sir,--to go on with.

Besides, "When the wind is in the East It's neither fit for man nor beast.
In fact it shrivels me up.

I should like some sunshine." "Then we will go," said Sir Tancred.
Accordingly, the middle of the next week found them lodged at the Hotel des Princes, Monte Carlo, enjoying the nourishing sunshine of the Riviera.

At least Tinker was enjoying it; the demands of a system required his father and Lord Crosland to spend most of their day in the darker, though hardly cooler air of the Temple of Fortune.

But the system went well, and they did not repine.
The first time he dined in the restaurant of the hotel, Sir Tancred was disagreeably surprised to see sitting at a neighbouring table his loathed uncle, Sir Everard Wigram.