THREE MODERN CARTWRIGHTS 



templating his ragged hunting suit and two 

 weeks' beard in dismay, while I courageously 

 descended to the salon in my a little less ragged 

 khakies. Our host wore green corduroy knicker- 

 bockers, silk stockings and pumps, the ladies 

 were becomingly attired in delicate white 

 material of Parisian and not Labrador make, 

 when my friend sailed into the room with 

 great dignity in his flannel shirt sleeves and 

 ancient " fluffy " leather waistcoat. He con- 

 fessed to me afterwards that the anguish of 

 deciding between a shrunken, stained and torn 

 shooting jacket on the one hand and shirt 

 sleeves on the other was intense, but the 

 " fluffy " leather waistcoat turned the scale 

 in favour of the latter unpardonable costume. 

 However, we endeavoured to make up for the 

 poverty of our clothes by the elegance of our 

 conversation, and we drank the health of the 

 madame and la belle soeur in the red wine of 

 sunny France with carefully chosen phrases 

 from our little dictionary. I could not help 

 thinking of the tramps in Erminie. A five 

 course dinner with all the " frills " on the 

 Labrador coast was certainly a surprise. 



The third in this triumvirate of men of 

 145 



