arkable chap. Positively, sir, he gives me a fresh and agreeable
surprise each day!"

"I like the way he wears his clothes," Brent replied. "It isn't every
fellow who can put on hand-me-downs and still look like they're made for
him. Perhaps a small matter," he added, noting a smile of indulgence
come into the old gentleman's face, "but you'll admit that it shows up
favorably. It's probably an avatism pointing back to royalty; as Aunt
Timmie would say, a sure sign of quality."

"You may be right, sir. But in other ways he shows up more
extraordinarily. His mind is so retentive that nothing ever escapes from
it. Any date, or fact, or figure that he has ever heard, may be
instantly and accurately recalled. Why, sir, I would as soon contradict
an encyclopedia! He is truthful to a fault!"

"I wouldn't condemn him for a little thing like that," Brent murmured.

"Condemn! Why, sir, I admire him for it! I was early taught to love the
truth and shame the devil!"

Brent laughed softly. He got a great deal of fun out of ragging the old
gentleman a bit at times.

"If shaming the devil were all," he said; "but think of your neighbors!"

"I think of no one, sir!" The Colonel was fuming now, and glaring
impartially at everything about him.

"Then I wonder you've got a friend left. But, all joking aside, I
wouldn't take anything for Dale, and have really grown to like him a
whole lot. If he could just get over giving me the creeps! I can't
describe what there is about him--his native crudity, doubtless."

"I should forgive crudities in one whose heart is right," the Colonel
temporized. "It's in oysters that pearls are found, and surely oysters
could not be termed finished."

"Your originality is dazzling," Brent looked across at him, "even though
I can't agree with you. I've usually found oysters finished all too
soon;--and much easier to swallow than your superannuated moral axioms."

The old gentleman began to laugh. "On my word, sir, you are hopeless!
But, if he meets Jane's expectations, you will see him one of these days
with a masterful grasp on the abstruse questions of life, and striding
on to undisputed success. Jane has never been so enthusiastic about
anything as this rapid development. She's planning wonders with him!"

Brent was silent, gloomily watching the smoke from his cigarette.
Pointedly ignoring the personal element, at last he said:

"I was just trying to decide whether success in life depends as muc