Many of the advantages that wait upon the readers of this history
are, I should hope, by this time obvious. Among them must be
reckoned the privilege of taking precedence of Admiral Buzza--of
paying a visit to "The Bower" not only several minutes in advance of
that great man, but moreover on terms of the utmost intimacy.
Shortly before eleven on Monday morning the Honourable Frederic
Augustus Hythe Goodwyn-Sandys was shaving contemplatively. He was a
tall, thin man, with light, closely cropped hair, a drooping
moustache that hid his mouth, and a nose of the order aquiline, and
species "chiselled." For the present the lower half of his face was
obscured with lather. His dress--I put it thus in case Miss Limpenny
should read these lines--was that usually worn by gentlemen under
similar circumstances.
Mr. Goodwyn-Sandys was just taking his first stroke with the razor,
when the creaking of the garden gate caused him to glance out of
window. The effect of this was to make him cut his cheek; whereupon
he both bled and swore simultaneously and profusely.
On the gravel walk stood Admiral Buzza with his three daughters.
Again the great man was in full dress. Behind him in Indian file
advanced Sophia, Jane, Calypso, each in a straight frock of vivid
yellow surmounted by a straw hat of such enormous brim as to lend
them a fearful likeness to three gigantic fungi.
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