So the race dwindled, until old Matthew Gibbs and his two sons Fred and
Roger were the last representatives of the old stock; and to the
father's bitter disappointment neither boy would consent to settle down
on the farm and carry out the tradition of the family. Fred, always a
pushing, commercially-minded lad, found farming too slow and
unprofitable to satisfy him, and he took service in a butcher's shop at
York, as a first step towards his goal, London, in which city he
eventually made his home, married a Cockney girl, and settled down for
the rest of his prosperous life.

The second son, Roger, early showed a desire to travel; and though his
father would have kept him at home, he realized that after all youth
will be served, and let the boy go out into the world as soon as he had
passed his eighteenth birthday.

Being possessed of unlimited confidence, exceptional strength and a
light-hearted determination to make something of life, Roger was
successful from the start. As is often her way with those from whom she
means, later, to exact a heavy toll, Fate smiled upon the good-looking
young man who faced her so gaily. He got one post after another:
secretary, mechanic, groom--for he was equally clever with hands and
head. In this or that capacity he travelled quite extensively for some
years, and finally, having a natural bent for languages, came to Rome in
the position of courier to a rich American family. It happened that the
daughter of the house had an Italian maid, a beautiful, refined girl
from Southern Italy; and the young people quickly fell in love. In spite
of his apparent irresponsibility Roger had saved a little money, and
within six months he had married his Italian girl and carried her off to
live in a village on the side of a mountain not far from Naples, where
for four blissful years they lived in perfect contentment.

Old Matthew Gibbs, having in his later years sustained heavy
agricultural losses, was dead, and there was nothing to call Roger back
to England. He much preferred, indeed, to remain in the South, and as
their wants were simple he and his wife were able to live quite
comfortably on Roger's own little bit of money and the few _lire_ he
made through the kindly offices of the village priest, who liked the gay
young Englishman and put many odd jobs--translation, the acting as
interpreter and guide to tourists, and other things of the sort--in his
way.

When Toni came to complete the trio,