r two, and then took his leave.

"Papa," Lucy said instantly, "do tell us all about Mr. St. Paul."

"Are you curious to know something about him, Miss Grey?" Money asked.

"Well, he certainly seems to be an odd sort of person. He is so little
like what I should imagine a pirate of romance."

"Not a bad hit. He is a sort of pirate out of date. But he represents,
with a little exaggeration, a certain tendency among younger sons
to-day. Some younger sons, you know, are going into trade; some are
working at the bar, or becoming professional journalists; some are
rearing sheep in Australia, and cattle in Kansas and Texas. It's a phase
of civilization worth observing, Miss Grey, to you who go in for being a
sort of little philosopher."

"Dear papa, how can you say so? Nola does not go in for being anything
so dry and dreadful."

"The tendencies of an aristocracy must always interest a thoughtful mind
like Miss Grey's, Lucy," Mrs. Money said gravely. "There is at least
something hopeful in the mingling of classes."

"In young swells becoming drovers and rowdies?" Money observed. "Hum!
Well, as to that----" and he stopped.

"I think I am a little interested in him," Minola said; "but only
personally, not philosophically."

"Well, that's nearly all about him. He was a scamp, and he knocked about
the world, and settled, if that can be called settling, out West for a
while; and he has made money, and I hope he has sown his wild oats; and
he has come home for variety, and, I think, to annoy his brother. I met
him in Egypt, and I knew him in England too; and so he came to see me,
and he found a sort of old acquaintance in Heron. That's all. He's a
clever fellow, and not a bad fellow in his way. I dare say he would have
made a very decent follower of Drake or Raleigh if he had been born at
the right time."

Minola's attention was drawn away somewhat from the character,
adventures, and philosophical interest of Mr. St. Paul to observe some
peculiarity in the manner of Lucy Money. Although Lucy had set out by
declaring herself wildly eager to know something about St. Paul, she
very soon dropped out of the conversation, and drew listlessly away.
After a while she sat at the piano, and began slowly playing some soft
and melancholy chords. Minola had been observing something of a change
in Lucy this present visit, something that she had not seen before. Mr.
Money presently went to his study; the women all dispersed, and Minola