n honorable past, of ancestors distinguished and
respected, whether they be his or another's, and be unmoved.

"And you say there are none to inherit all these things?" Croyden
exclaimed. "Didn't the original Duval leave children?"

The agent shook his head. "There was but one son to each generation,
sir--and with the Colonel there was none."

"Then, having succeeded to them by right of purchase, and with no
better right outstanding, it falls to me to see that they are not
shamed by the new owner. Their portraits shall remain undisturbed
either by collectors or by myself. Moreover, I'll look up my own
ancestors. I've got some, down in South Carolina and up in
Massachusetts, and if their portraits be in existence, I'll add
reproductions to keep the Duvals company. Ancestors by inheritance and
ancestors by purchase. The two of them ought to keep me straight, don't
you think?" he said, with a smile.

IV

PARMENTER'S BEQUEST

Croyden, with Dick as guide and old Mose as forerunner and
shutter-opener, went through the house, even unto the garret.

As in the downstairs, he found it immaculate. Josephine had kept
everything as though the Colonel himself were in presence. The bed
linen, the coverlids, the quilts, the blankets were packed in trunks,
the table-linen and china in drawers and closets. None of them was
new--practically the entire furnishing antedated 1830, and much of them
1800--except that, here and there, a few old rugs of oriental weaves,
relieved the bareness of the hardwood floors.

The one concession to modernism was a bath-room, but its tin tub and
painted iron wash-stand, with the plumbing concealed by wainscoting,
proclaimed it, alas, of relatively ancient date. And, for a moment,
Croyden contrasted it with the shower, the porcelain, and the tile, of
his Northumberland quarters, and shivered, ever so slightly. It would
be the hardest to get used to, he thought. As yet, he did not know the
isolation of the long, interminably long, winter evenings, with
absolutely nothing to do and no place to go--and no one who could
understand.

At length, when they were ready to retrace their steps to the lower
floor, old Mose had disappeared.

"Gone to tell his wife that the new master has come," said Dick. "Let
us go out to the kitchen."

And there they found her--bustling around, making the fire, her head
tied up in a bandana, her sleeves rolled to the shoulders. She turned,
as they entered, and dr