'heart'?"

"No. My heart I can trust, up to certain limits. But I'm afraid of your
head, just as I always was of your father's. And here's one more bit of
advice: Be careful how you treat that country uncle."

"The Admiral! Ho! ho! He's a card."

"He may be the trump that will lose us the trick. Treat him civilly;
yes, even cordially, if you can. And _don't_ insult him as you did the
first time you and he met."

The young man crossed his legs, and grunted in resignation.

"Well," he said, "it's going to be a confounded bore, but, at the very
longest, it'll last but a year. Then Caro will be her own mistress."

"Yes. But there are three hundred and sixty-five days in a year;
remember that."

"All right, Mater. You can bet on me. The old hayseed and I will be
bosom pals. Wait and see."

The formalities at the lawyers' took some time. Captain Elisha was
absent from the apartment the better part of the following two days. The
evenings, however, he spent with his niece and nephew, and, if at all
sensitive to sudden changes of the temperature, he must have noticed
that the atmosphere of the library was less frigid. Caroline was not
communicative, did not make conversation, nor was she in the least
familiar; but she answered his questions, did not leave the room when he
entered, and seemed inclined to accept his society with resignation,
if not with enthusiasm. Even Stephen was less sarcastic and bitter. At
times, when his new guardian did or said something which offended his
highly cultivated sense of the proprieties, he seemed inclined to burst
out with a sneer; but a quick "ahem!" or a warning glance from his
sister caused him to remain silent and vent his indignation by kicking
a footstool or barking a violent order at the unresisting Edwards.
Caroline and her brother had had a heart to heart talk, and, as a
result, the all-wise young gentleman promised to make no more trouble
than he could help.

"Though, by gad, Caro," he declared, "it's only for you I do it! If I
had my way the old butt-in should understand exactly what I think of
him."

On Thursday, after luncheon, as Captain Elisha sat in his own room,
reading a book he had taken from the library, there came a knock at the
door.

"Come ahead in!" ordered the captain. Caroline entered. Her uncle rose
and put down the book.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, "is it you? Excuse me. I thought 'twas the
Commodore--Edwards, I mean. If I'd known you was comin' callin',
C