have enjoyed the way in which you affiliated with our
little group. We have been so long together now that we have become
a sort of family--speakers, writers, and well-wishers, with Mr.
Grayson as the head in virtue of his position as nominee. You have
had a large place in this family--what shall I call it?--a kind of
elder brother, one who out of the fund of his experience could
wisely lead the younger and more impulsive."

Mrs. Grayson stopped here and tapped her finger thoughtfully with the
staff of her pen. "That paragraph," she mused, "should bring home to him
the fact that he is old as compared with Sylvia and Mr. Harley, and that
is the first thing I wish to establish in his mind." Then, dipping her
pen in the ink again, she wrote:

"This, I think, is one of the reasons that our young people have
missed you so much. You were always prepared to take your part in
the entertainment of the day, but your gravity and your years,
which, without being too many, become you so much, exercised a
restraining influence upon them, and showed them the line at which
they should stop. I think that you acquired over them an influence,
in its way paternal, and it is in such a capacity that they miss
you most."

The lady's smile deepened, and in her mind was the thought that if he
did not wince at this bolt he was, indeed, impervious. Then she
continued:

"My interest in this campaign is not alone political nor personal
to Mr. Grayson, which also means myself, but I have become much
interested in those who travel with us--that is, those who have
become the members of our new family. There is Mr. Heathcote, who
was sent West as our enemy, and quickly turned to a friend. There
is Mr. Tremaine, who is such a gay old beau, and who never realizes
that he is too old for the young women with whom he wishes to
flirt."

The lady stopped again, and her smile was deeper than ever. "Now that
was unintended," she mused, "but it comes in very happily." She resumed:

"And there is Mr. Hobart, who loves mysteries, especially murder
mysteries, and who saved the life of that innocent boy. I find him
a most interesting character, but, after all, he is read with less
difficulty than Mr. Harley, who, though silent and reserved, seems
to me to be deeper and more complex. His, I am sure, is a very
s