never heard
anything to his discredit. That is considerable to say of a young man in
his position, Eleanor, and I hope it may constitute enough of a passport
to your favour to permit of your at least inviting him to dinner.
Besides--let me remind you--your daughters have standards of their own
which you have given them. Ruth is a girl yet, of course, but a mighty
discerning one for sixteen. As for Roberta, I'll wager no young
millionaire is any more likely to get past her defences than any young
mechanic--unless he proves himself fit."

"I am confident of that," she agreed, and with her charming gray head
held high went on about her household affairs.

CHAPTER III

WHILE IT RAINS

The advanced age of the Honourable Calvin Gray, and the precarious state
of his eyesight, made it possible for him to work at his beloved
self-appointed task for only a scant number of hours daily. His new
assistant, therefore, found his own working hours not only limited but
variable. Beginning at ten in the morning, by four in the afternoon
Judge Gray was usually too weary to proceed farther; sometimes by the
luncheon hour he was ready to lay aside his papers and dismiss his
assistant. On other days he would waken with a severe headache, the
result of the overstrain he was constantly tempted to give his eyes, in
spite of all the aid that was offered him. On such days Richard could
not always find enough to do to occupy his time, and would be obliged to
leave the house so early that many hours were on his hands. When this
happened, he would take the opportunity to drop in at one or two of his
clubs, and so convey the impression that only caprice kept him away on
other days. Curiously enough, this still seemed to him an object; he
might have found it difficult to explain just why, for he assuredly was
not ashamed of his new occupation.

Rather unexplainably to Richard, nearly the first fortnight of his new
experience went by without his meeting any members of the family except
the heads thereof and the younger son, Edgar, familiarly called by every
one "Ted." With this youthful scion of the house he was destined to form
the first real acquaintance. It came about upon a particularly rainy
November day. Richard had found Judge Gray suffering from one of his
frequent headaches, as a result of the overwork he had not been able
wholly to avoid. Therefore a long day's work of research in various
ancient volumes had been turned over to