lowing habit and the Prince in a double-breasted frock
coat and a stock, on horseback, hung over the mantelpiece in his
drawing-room. If the outer patriotism was a little vague, the inner had
vigour enough. Canada was a great place. Mr Milburn had been born in the
country, and had never "gone over" to England; Canada was good enough
for him. He was born, one might say, in the manufacturing interest, and
inherited the complacent and Conservative political views of a tenderly
nourished industry. Mr Milburn was of those who were building up the
country; with sufficient protection he was prepared to go on doing it
long and loyally; meanwhile he admired the structure from all points of
view. As President of the Elgin Chamber of Commerce, he was enabled once
a year to produce no end of gratifying figures; he was fond of wearing
on such occasions the national emblem in a little enamelled maple leaf;
and his portrait and biography occupied a full page in a sumptuous
work entitled Canadians of Today, sold by subscription, where he was
described as the "Father of the Elgin Boiler."

Mr and Mrs Milburn were in the drawing-room to receive their young
guests, a circumstance which alone imparted a distinction to the
entertainment. At such parties the appearance of the heads of the house
was by no means invariable; frequently they went to bed. The simple
explanation was that the young people could stand late hours and be none
the worse next day; their elders had to be more careful if they wanted
to get down to business. Moreover, as in all new societies, between the
older and the younger generation there was a great gulf fixed, across
which intercourse was difficult. The sons and daughters, born to
different circumstances, evolved their own conventions, the old people
used the ways and manners of narrower days; one paralysed the other. It
might be gathered from the slight tone of patronage in the address
of youth to age that the advantage lay with the former; but
polite conversation, at best, was sustained with discomfort. Such
considerations, however, were far from operating with the Milburns.
Mrs Milburn would have said that they were characteristic of quite a
different class of people; and so they were.

No one would have supposed, from the way in which the family disposed
itself in the drawing-room, that Miss Filkin had only just finished
making the claret cup, or that Dora had been cutting sandwiches till
the last minute, or tha