a confirmed old bachelor, any
more competent than I?"

"Hardly an old bachelor!" interrupted Helen reprovingly.

"No--middle-aged bachelor!" corrected Ray saucily. "He never cared for
a woman in his life. He----"

"Who told you so?" inquired the lawyer quickly, with an amused twinkle
in his eye.

Ray colored visibly.

"Oh, I judge so," she stammered. "You never speak of that sort of
thing. One can only draw conclusions."

"The conclusions may be wrong," he replied gravely. "My life is a very
busy one. I have had no time to think of anything outside my immediate
work. Yet I am human. I sometimes yearn for the companionship of a
good woman. A pretty face attracts me, as it does other men, but, in
my opinion, any such attachment is too serious a matter to be treated
lightly. When a man feels deeply he keeps his own confidence until the
moment comes when he can unburden himself and say what is in his heart."

"I like that," said Helen, nodding her head approvingly.

Ray jumped up to conceal her embarrassment.

"Oh, how terribly serious you two are to-day!" she exclaimed. "I
declare I'll run away unless you cheer up a bit. Suppose I get some
tea?"

"Excellent idea!" laughed the lawyer.

Ray touched a bell, and went to clear a small side table, which she
drew up near where they were sitting.

"There!" she exclaimed, smiling roguishly at the lawyer. "Don't you
think I'm smart?"

"Of course we do." Lowering his voice he added significantly: "At
least I do."

Apparently the compliment fell on deaf ears, for, turning her head
away, she said quickly:

"Please don't be sarcastic."

More seriously, and in the same tone, that even Helen, who was only a
short distance away, could not hear, he said:

"I'm never sarcastic. I think you are all a woman should be."

"Do you mean that?"

"I do. I have thought it for a long time."

"Really?"

"Really."

The young girl colored with pleasure. For all her sophisticated and
independent manner she was still a child at heart. She had no thoughts
of marriage, but it flattered her to think that she had the power to
attract and interest this serious, brilliant man of the world. She
said nothing more, relapsing into a meditative silence as she busied
herself helping the maid to set out the tea table.

To Helen it was a source of keen satisfaction to notice the attention
which the brilliant young lawyer was paying her sister. She had long
recognized