he used to.
Uncle George told me he heard that the automobile factory had been doing
quite well--won a race, too! I shouldn't be a bit surprised if all the
young fellow had been waiting for was to know he had an assured income
before he proposed."

"What 'young fellow'?"

"This young fellow Morgan," laughed George; "Honestly, Aunt Fanny, I
shouldn't be a bit surprised to have him request an interview with me
any day, and declare that his intentions are honourable, and ask my
permission to pay his addresses to you. What had I better tell him?"

Fanny burst into tears.

"Good heavens!" George cried. "I was only teasing. I didn't mean--"

"Let me alone," she said lifelessly; and, continuing to weep, rose and
began to clear away the dishes.

"Please, Aunt Fanny--"

"Just let me alone."

George was distressed. "I didn't mean anything, Aunt Fanny! I didn't
know you'd got so sensitive as all that."

"You'd better go up to bed," she said desolately, going on with her work
and her weeping.

"Anyhow," he insisted, "do let these things wait. Let the servants 'tend
to the table in the morning."

"No."

"But, why not?"

"Just let me alone."

"Oh, Lord!" George groaned, going to the door. There he turned. "See
here, Aunt Fanny, there's not a bit of use your bothering about those
dishes tonight. What's the use of a butler and three maids if--"

"Just let me alone."

He obeyed, and could still hear a pathetic sniffing from the dining room
as he went up the stairs.

"By George!" he grunted, as he reached his own room; and his thought was
that living with a person so sensitive to kindly raillery might prove
lugubrious. He whistled, long and low, then went to the window and
looked through the darkness to the great silhouette of his grandfather's
house. Lights were burning over there, upstairs; probably his newly
arrived uncle was engaged in talk with the Major.

George's glance lowered, resting casually upon the indistinct ground,
and he beheld some vague shapes, unfamiliar to him. Formless heaps, they
seemed; but, without much curiosity, he supposed that sewer connections
or water pipes might be out of order, making necessary some excavations.
He hoped the work would not take long; he hated to see that sweep of
lawn made unsightly by trenches and lines of dirt, even temporarily. Not
greatly disturbed, however, he pulled down the shade, yawned, and began
to, undress, leaving further investigation for the morning.