ut the man looks ill and old and the
papers are becoming bolder in what they hint at concerning him and
the operations he was, and is still supposed to be, connected with;
and it is deplorable to see such a physical change in any human
being, guilty or innocent. I do not like to see pain; I never did.
For Dysart I have no use at all, but he is suffering, and it is
difficult to contemplate any suffering unmoved.

"There was a letter at the club for me from Scott. He says he's
plugging away at the Rose-beetle's life history as a hors-d'oeuvre
before tackling the appetising problem of his total extermination.
Dear old Scott! I never thought that the boy I fought in your garden
would turn into a spectacled savant. Or that his sister would prove
to be the only inspiration and faith and hope that life holds for
me!

"I talked to Delancy. He _is_ a good young man, as you've always
insisted. I know one thing; he's high-minded and gentle. Dysart has
a manner of treating him which is most offensive, but it only
reflects discredit on Dysart.

"Delancy told me that Rosalie is hostess in her own cottage this
month and has asked him up. I heard him speaking rather diffidently
to Dysart about it, and Dysart replied that he didn't 'give a damn
who went to the house,' as he wasn't going.

"So much for gossip; now a fact or two: my father is plainly worried
over the business outlook; and he's quite alone in the house; and
that is why I don't go back to Roya-Neh just now and join your
brother. I could do plenty of work there. Scott writes that the new
studio is in good shape for me. What a generous girl you are! Be
certain that at the very first opportunity I will go and occupy it
and paint, no doubt, several exceedingly remarkable pictures in it
which will sell for enormous prices and enable us to keep a
maid-of-all-work when we begin our menage!

"Father has retired--poor old governor--it tears me all to pieces to
see him so silent and listless. I am here at the club writing this
before I go home to bed. Now I am going. Good-night, my beloved.

"DUANE."

"P.S.--An honour, or the chance of it, has suddenly confronted me,
surprising me so much that I don't really dare to believe that it
can possibly happen to me--at least not for