ored for my entertainment." He paused and resumed: "I'm grateful
because you mean to be kind, as you were the night I met you first at the
tent. Although you had heard my story, I saw you wanted to make me feel I
was being given a fresh start."

Ida studied him with a thoughtful calm that he found embarrassing.
"Perhaps I did, but suppose we talk about something else."

"Very well. If it's not bad form, I wasn't in the least astonished by
your lecture about the roofs, because one finds your people have a
breadth of knowledge that's remarkable. I once showed an old abbey near
our place at home to some American tourists, and soon saw they knew more
about its history than I did. There was a girl of seventeen who corrected
me once or twice, and when I went to the library I found that she was
right. The curious thing is that you're, so to speak, rather parochial
with it all. One of my American employers treated me pretty well until he
had to make some changes in his business. Took me to his house now and
then, and I found his wife and daughters knew the old French and Italian
cities. Yet they thought them far behind Marlin Bluff, which is really a
horribly ugly place."

"I know it," said Ida, laughing. "Still, the physical attractiveness of a
town isn't it's only charm. Besides, are you sure you don't mean
patriotic when you say parochial? You ought to sympathize with the former
feeling."

"I don't know. Patriotism is difficult when your country has no use for
you."

Ida did not reply, and it was a few minutes later when she said: "I'm
glad I met you to-night, because we go home soon and there's a favor I
want to ask. My brother is coming out to take a post on the irrigation
work and I want you to look after him."

"But he mayn't like being looked after, and it's very possible he knows
more about the work than I do. I've only had a military training."

"Jake has had no training at all, and is three or four years younger than
I think you are."

"Then, of course, I'll be glad to teach him all I can."

"That isn't exactly what I mean, although we want him to learn as much as
possible about engineering."

"I don't see what else I could teach him."

Ida smiled. "Then I must explain. Jake is rash and fond of excitement and
gay society. He makes friends easily and trusts those he likes, but this
has some drawbacks because his confidence is often misplaced. Now I don't
think you would find it difficult to gain some infl