e was slender, rather
than heavy, with ease of movement as if the play of every muscle was
nerved to harmony. His heavy black hair was worn a trifle long on the
upper part of his head and fell in masses above his forehead. His eyes
were black and keen under heavy black brows. Every feature was strong
and massive, but saved from sternness by a genial kindliness and sense
of humor. Whoever came into his presence felt that magnetic power only a
king of his kind can possess.

Long the Dean sat gazing at the gleaming landscape and the sleepy town
beyond the campus and the pigeons circling gracefully above a little
cottage, hidden by trees, up the river.

"A wonderful region!" he murmured. "If that old white-haired brother of
mine digging about the roots of Greek and Sanscrit back in Harvard could
only see all this, maybe he might understand why I choose to stay here
with my college instead of tying up with a university back East. But,
maybe not. We are only step-brothers. He is old enough to be my father,
and with all his knowledge of books he could never read men. However, he
sent me West with a fat pocketbook in the interest of higher education.
I hope I've invested well. And our magnificent group of buildings up
here and our broad-acred campus, together with our splendid enrollment
of students justify my hope. Strange, I have never known whose money
I was using. Not Joshua Wream's, I know that. Money is nothing to the
Wreams except as it endows libraries, builds colleges, and extends
universities. Too scholarly for these prairies, all of them! Too
scholarly!"

The Dean's eyes were fixed on a tiny shaft of blue smoke rising steadily
from the rough country in the valley beyond Lagonda Ledge, but his mind
was still on his brother.

"Dr. Joshua Wream, D.D., Litt.D., LL.D., etc.! He has taken all the
degrees conferable, except the degree of human insight." Something
behind the strong face sent a line of pathos into it with the thought.
"He has piled up enough for me to look after this fall, anyhow. It was
bad enough for that niece of ours to be left a penniless orphan with
only the two uncles to look after her and both of us bachelors. And now,
after he has been shaping Elinor Wream's life until she is ready for
college, he sends her out here to me, frankly declaring that she is too
much for him. She always was."

He turned to a letter lying on the table beside him, a smile playing
about the frown on his countenance.