dairies--and I'll try to forget
that its origin is--cows. That cream in the pitcher there came from a
farm of mine up in Westchester. Bulk for bulk, it costs me about the
same as old champagne, but it's mighty cheap compared to what that other
milk came to." He paused and gazed at the spoon balanced on a steady
forefinger.

"As for the whisper of the breeze through the silver birches, I've heard
it with chilblains on my feet and bruises on my heart and henceforth
when I want to see the shadows fall, I'll go and stand under Cheops'
pyramid or the Coliseum at Rome or some other edifice reared with human
hands as the monument to human achievement that helped to build the
world. When I die they'll once more lay me close to Nature's breast,
and, being dead, I sha'n't object--but until that time I'll stay
away--as far away as possible."

The financier ended his good-humored tirade and glanced up to meet the
frankly alarmed gaze of Harrow, who at that moment reappeared in the
door.

"Miss Burton says," announced the butler, his usual suavity shaken
beyond control, "that there is no answer to your note. She says you
already have her reply."

The coffee in the percolator was bubbling furiously, and the ice about
the grape-fruit was beginning to melt. Hamilton Burton rose abruptly
from his chair. "Please excuse me for a moment, Carl," he said in a low
voice. "I will go up and bring my sister down to breakfast."

The furnishing and decorating of Mary Burton's apartments had engrossed
her brother's interest for some weeks prior to her arrival and when in
answer to his rap a silvery voice said, "Come in," he stood on the
threshold of a boudoir as richly and tastefully detailed as a princess
of the blood royal could have asked.

But the girl, who sat indolently before her mirror, clad in a morning
negligee of exquisite delicacy, was so like a colorful and lustrous
pearl that one forgot her surroundings. Hamilton's eyes, the eyes that
could change so swiftly from implacability to disarming softness,
flashed into pride as he looked at her.

"Mary," he amiably began, "I think there must be some misunderstanding.
I asked you to come down."

The girl looked up with a serene smile. "Did they not then give you my
message?" she inquired softly. "I told them to say that I would
breakfast here."

The man's eyes narrowed and darkened. Something in his domineering
spirit bristled, as it always bristled under questioning or oppositio