ou here?"

His teeth flashed in that clever, confident smile.

"The stage. I just arrived a few minutes ago, and hurried here at once.
Aren't you glad to see me?"

"Glad? Yes, indeed! I can't tell you how glad. But it's a shock to me
your coming so suddenly. You might have let me know."

"Yes, it was a sudden resolve; I should have wired you. However, I
thought I would give you a surprise. How are you, old man?"

"Me--oh, I'm all right, thanks."

"Why, what's the matter with you, lad? You look ten years older. You
look older than your big brother now."

"Yes, I daresay. It's the life, it's the land. A hard life and a hard
land."

"Why don't you go out?"

"I don't know, I don't know. I keep on planning to go out and then
something turns up, and I put it off a little longer. I suppose I ought
to go, but I'm tied up with mining interests. My partner is away in the
East, and I promised to stay in and look after things. I'm making money,
you see."

"Not sacrificing your youth and health for that, are you?"

"I don't know, I don't know."

There was a puzzled look in his frank face, and for my part I was
strangely ill at ease. With all my joy at his coming, there was a sense
of anxiety, even of fear. I had not wanted him to come just then, to see
me there. I was not ready for him. I had planned otherwise.

He was fixing me with a clear, penetrating look. For a moment his eyes
seemed to bore into me, then like a flash the charm came back into his
face. He laughed that ringing laugh of his.

"Well, I was tired of roaming round the old place. Things are in good
order now. I've saved a little money and I thought I could afford to
travel a little, so I came up to see my wandering brother, and his
wonderful North."

His gaze roved round the room. Suddenly it fell on the piece of
embroidery. He started slightly and I saw his eyes narrow, his mouth
set. His glance shifted to the piano with its litter of music. He looked
at me again, in an odd, bewildered way. He went on speaking, but there
was a queer constraint in his manner.

"I'm going to stay here for a month, and then I want you to come back
with me. Come back home and get some of the old colour into your cheeks.
The country doesn't agree with you, but we'll have you all right pretty
soon. We'll have you flogging the trout pools and tramping over the
heather with a gun. You remember how--whir-r-r--the black-cock used to
rise up right at one's very feet. They'