lanting his fist on his hip.

"Hm--hm!" murmured the President, standing thin and bent before the
empty fireplace, a coat-tail over each arm.

"You have heard nothing of him since then?"

"Nothing, Mr. Helwyse, sir! Reverend Manetho Glyphic--understood to be
the Doctor's adopted son--came here and effected the transfer, under
authority, of course, of his foster-father's signature. Where the
property is at this moment, how invested with what returns, neither
the President nor I can inform you, sir."

"Hm--hm!" remarked Mr. MacGentle again. It was a favorite comment of
his upon business topics.

"It is possible I may be a very wealthy man," said Balder, when Mr.
Dyke had made his resolute bow and withdrawn. "But I hope my uncle is
alive. It would be a loss not to have known so eccentric a man. I have
a miniature of him which I have often studied, so that I shall know
him when we meet. Can he be married, do you think?"

"Why no, Balder; no, I should hardly think so," answered Mr.
MacGentle, who, at the departure of his confidential clerk, had
relapsed into his unofficial position and manner. "By the way, do
_you_ contemplate that step?"

"It is said to be an impediment to great enterprises. I could learn
little by domestic life that I could not learn better otherwise."

"Hm,--we could not do without woman, you know."

"If I could marry Woman, I would do it," said the young man,
unblushingly. "But a single crumb from that great loaf would be of no
use to me."

"Ah, you haven't learned to appreciate women! You never knew your
mother, Balder; and your sister was lost before she was old enough to
be anything to you. By the way, I have always cherished a hope that
she might yet be found. Perhaps she may,--perhaps she may."

Balder looked perplexed, till, thinking the old gentleman might be
referring to a reunion in a future state, he said,--

"You believe that people recognize one another in the next world, Mr.
MacGentle?"

"Perhaps,--perhaps; but why not here as well?" murmured the other, in
reply; and Balder, suspecting a return of absent-mindedness, yielded
the point. He had grown up in the belief that his twin-sister had died
in her infancy; but his venerable friend appeared to be under a
different impression.

"I shall go to New York, and try to find my uncle, or some trace of
him," said he. "If I'm unsuccessful, I mean to come back here, and
settle as a physician."

"What is your specialty?"

"I'm an