ood heavens," he exclaimed, half serious, "what Indians you all are!"

"I'm quite shameless," she admitted, "and this is really what I
thought--you can, perhaps, help me sometimes, I don't know how, but he
will be out here a lot, men talk together--"

"And I can tell him that Myrtle is an utterly untrustworthy person who
would make him ultimately miserable. I'll remind him that her beauty is
no deeper than he sees it. But that Caroline there, admirable girl,
seething with affection in a figure warranted against time or
accident--" her expression brought his banter to an end. He studied her
seriously, revolved what she had said. She was right about Myrtle, who
was undoubtedly a vain and silly little fish. His father's immoderate
admiration for her had puzzled him as well as the elder sister. He
remembered that never had he heard their mother express a direct opinion
of Myrtle; but neither had Isabel Penny shown the slightest question of
her husband's high regard for their youngest child. She was, he realized
with a warming of his admiration, beautifully cultivated in the wisdom
of the world.

Caroline was vastly preferable to Myrtle, he felt that instinctively;
and he was inclined to give her whatever assistance he could. But this
would be negligible, and he said so. "You will have to do the trick by
yourself," he advised her. "I wouldn't pretend to tell you how. As you
said, you're not a ninny. And Myrtle's none too clever, although she
will manage to seem so. It's wonderful how she'll pick up a hint or two
and make a show. You see--she will be talking iron to David as if she
had been raised in a furnace."

"Men are so senseless!" Caroline exclaimed viciously. She rose. "It's
been a help only to talk to you, Howat. I knew you'd understand. Supper
will be along soon. Make yourself into a charmer for Mrs. Winscombe. I'm
certain she thinks the men out here are frightful hobs." The light had
dimmed rapidly in the room, and he moved over to the chest of drawers,
where he lit the candles, settling over them their tall, carved glass
cylinders.

III

He dressed slowly, all that Caroline had said, and he thought, tangling
and disentangling deliberately in his mind. Mrs. Winscombe ... thinking
there were no presentable men in the Provinces. His hand strayed in the
direction of a quince-coloured satin coat; but he chose instead a
commonplace, dun affair with pewter buttons, and carelessly settled his
shoulders in an