iver looked over his shoulder--the Dean and himself were preceding
Marmaduke and Peggy on the trim gravel path. "Do you care to lend me a
few thousands, Doggie?"

"Certainly not," replied Marmaduke.

"There's family affection for you, Uncle Edward! I've come half-way
round the earth to see him, and--say, will you lend me a fiver?"

"If you need it," said Marmaduke in a dignified way, "I shall be very
happy to advance you five pounds."

Oliver brought the little party to a halt and burst into laughter.

"I believe you good people think I've come back broke to the world.
The black sheep returned like a wolf to the fold. Only Peggy drew a
correct inference from the valet--wait till you see him! As Peggy
said, I've been getting on." He laid a light hand on the Dean's
shoulder. "While all you folks in Durdlebury, especially my dear
Doggie, for the last ten years have been durdling, I've been doing.
I've not come all this way to tap relations for five-pound notes. I'm
swaggering into the City of London for Capital--with a great big C."

Marmaduke twirled his little moustache. "You've taken to company
promoting," he remarked acidly.

"I have. And a damn--I beg your pardon, Uncle Edward--we poor Pacific
Islanders lisp in damns for want of deans to hold us up--and a jolly
good company too. We--that's I and another man--that's all the company
as yet--two's company, you know--own a trading fleet."

"You own ships?" cried Peggy.

"Rather. Own 'em, sail 'em, navigate 'em, stoke 'em, clean out the
boilers, sit on the safety valves when we want to make speed, do every
old thing----"

"And what do you trade in?" asked the Dean.

"Copra, beche-de-mer, mother-of-pearl----"

"Mother-of-pearl! How awfully romantic!" cried Peggy.

"We've got a fishery. At any rate, the concession. To work it properly
we require capital. That's why I'm here--to turn the concern into a
limited company."

"And where is this wonderful place?" asked the Dean.

"Huaheine."

"What a beautiful word!"

"Isn't it?" said Oliver. "Like the sigh of a girl in her sleep."

The old Dean shot a swift glance at his nephew; then took his arm and
walked on, and looked at the vast mass of the cathedral and at the
quiet English garden in its evening shadow.

"Copra, beche-de-mer, mother-of-pearl, Huaheine," he murmured. "And
these strange foreign things are the commonplaces of your life!"

Peggy and Marmaduke lagged behind a little. She pressed his arm.