while a chorus of "Hello, old Nelson,"
hailed his appearance.

It was two or three years since Nick Lansing had seen Mr. Vanderlyn, who
was now the London representative of the big New York bank of Vanderlyn
& Co., and had exchanged his sumptuous house in Fifth Avenue for
another, more sumptuous still, in Mayfair; and the young man looked
curiously and attentively at his host.

Mr. Vanderlyn had grown older and stouter, but his face still kept
its look of somewhat worn optimism. He embraced his wife, greeted Susy
affectionately, and distributed cordial hand-grasps to the two men.

"Hullo," he exclaimed, suddenly noticing a pearl and coral trinket
hanging from Clarissa's neck. "Who's been giving my daughter jewellery,
I'd like to know!"

"Oh, Streffy did--just think, father! Because I said I'd rather have it
than a book, you know," Clarissa lucidly explained, her arms tight about
her father's neck, her beaming eyes on Strefford.

Nelson Vanderlyn's own eyes took on the look of shrewdness which came
into them whenever there was a question of material values.

"What, Streffy? Caught you at it, eh? Upon my soul-spoiling the brat
like that! You'd no business to, my dear chap-a lovely baroque pearl--"
he protested, with the half-apologetic tone of the rich man embarrassed
by too costly a gift from an impecunious friend.

"Oh, hadn't I? Why? Because it's too good for Clarissa, or too expensive
for me? Of course you daren't imply the first; and as for me--I've had a
windfall, and am blowing it in on the ladies."

Strefford, Lansing had noticed, always used American slang when he was
slightly at a loss, and wished to divert attention from the main point.
But why was he embarrassed, whose attention did he wish to divert, It
was plain that Vanderlyn's protest had been merely formal: like most of
the wealthy, he had only the dimmest notion of what money represented
to the poor. But it was unusual for Strefford to give any one a present,
and especially an expensive one: perhaps that was what had fixed
Vanderlyn's attention.

"A windfall?" he gaily repeated.

"Oh, a tiny one: I was offered a thumping rent for my little place at
Como, and dashed over here to squander my millions with the rest of
you," said Strefford imperturbably.

Vanderlyn's look immediately became interested and sympathetic.
"What--the scene of the honey-moon?" He included Nick and Susy in his
friendly smile.

"Just so: the reward of virtue. I say, g