d the day and that he would have left the house as he had come to
it. But the clever suggestion of haste on the banker's part, his hurried
manner and his domineering gestures, left a young lad quite without
idea. Such an old strategist as Richard Gessner should have known how to
deal with that honest original, Alban Kennedy.

"We will meet at breakfast," the banker repeated; "meanwhile, consider
Mr. Geary as your friend and counsellor. He shall by me so be appointed.
I have a great work for you to do, Mr. Kennedy, but the education, the
books, the knowledge--they must come first. Go now and think about
dinner--or perhaps you would like to walk about the grounds a little
while. Mr. Geary will show you the way--I leave you in his hands."

He folded the papers up and thrust them quickly in a drawer as he spoke.
The interview was plainly at an end. He had welcomed a son as he would
have welcomed any stranger who had brought a letter of introduction
which decency compelled him to read.

CHAPTER VIII

ALBAN KENNEDY DINES

Silas Geary led the way through the hall and thence to the winter
garden. Here the display of plants was quite remarkable and the building
one that had cost many thousands of pounds. Designed, as all that
Richard Gessner touched, to attract the wonder of the common people and
to defy the derision of the connoisseur, this immense garden had been
the subject of articles innumberable and of pictures abundant. Vast in
size, classic in form, it served many purposes, but chiefly as a gallery
for the safe custody of a collection of Oriental china which had no
rival in Europe.

"It is our patron's hobby," said the curate, mincingly, as he indicated
the treasures of cloisonne and of porcelain; "he does not frivol away
his money as so many do, on idle dissipations and ephemeral pleasures.
On the contrary, he devotes it to the beautiful objects--"

"Do you call them beautiful, sir?" Alban asked ingenuously. "They seem
to me quite ugly. I don't think that if I had money I should spend it on
plates and jars which nobody uses. I would much sooner buy a battle ship
and give it to the nation." And then he asked, "Did Mr. Gessner put up
all this glass to keep out the fresh air? Does he like being in a
hot-house? I should have thought a garden would have been better."

Silas Geary could make nothing of such criticism as this.

"My dear lad," he protested, "you are very young and probably don't know
what scia