And yet he really could not sit down and write, "Dear Grover,--Please say by bearer if pistols and bull-dogs are allowed?
Yours truly, M.R." It looked too foolish.

Of course, when he saw them written down on paper he knew they were not allowed; and yet it would be equally foolish now to go back to the study and say he had decided without inquiry that they were against rules.
He was still debating this knotty point when a knock at the door apprised him that his expected guests had arrived.

Alas! blunder number two trod hard on the heels of number one! He had no tea or coffee, not even a box of biscuits, to take off the edge of the interview and offer a retreat for his own inevitable embarrassment and the possible shyness of his visitors.

The arrangements for that reception were as formal as the invitations had been.

Was it much wonder if the conference turned out stiff and awkward?
In the first place, as all four entered together, and none of them were labelled, he was quite at a loss to know their names.