Miss Bubbles, so much was clear, rather despised the poor lad.

She had implied as much in her clever, teasing, funny way, more than once.
And the thought of Bubbles unexpectedly brought up another image--that of James Tapster.

Of the little party gathered together at Wyndfell Hall, Tapster was the one whom the doctor felt he really didn't like.

He couldn't imagine why Varick had asked that disagreeable fellow here! While the men were still in the dining-room, and Varick had gone out for a moment to look for some very special, new kind of cigarette which had come down from London a day or two before, Tapster had spoken very disagreeably of the richness of the French _chef's_ cooking.

He had seemed to think it an outrage that something of a special, very plain, nature had not been provided for him every day, and he had hinted that perhaps the doctor could suggest some antidote to all this richness! There was another reason, so Panton's sleepy mind told him, why he didn't like his sulky, plain fellow-guest.