I not!' was the expressive answer; and then he went on: 'I am quite
of your opinion that Blake is a nice, gentlemanly fellow; but I think
that brother of his is still more interesting. Poor little chap! he has
plenty of brains; he is as sharp as some fellows of nineteen or twenty.
Blake is clever enough, but one of these days Kester will make his mark.
He has a perfect thirst for knowledge. I drew him out this morning, for
we only made a pretence at work. You should have heard him talk.'

'That is exactly his brother's opinion,' returned Audrey; and she
repeated Cyril's words.

Michael was evidently struck by them.

'He seems very fond of him, and, for the matter of that, the poor boy is
devoted to his brother. I suppose that accident has made a link between
them. I do not know that I ever took so much interest in your _proteges_
before. By the bye, what has become of the O'Briens, Audrey?'

'I am going to see them to-morrow. I know what that inquiry means,
Michael. You think that I am always so much taken up with new people
that I forget my old friends; but you are wrong.' And then she added, a
little reproachfully: 'That you of all people should accuse me of
fickleness!'

Captain Burnett smiled a little gravely.

'You are investing my words with too large a meaning. I do not think you
in the least fickle; it is only your headlong sympathies that carry you
away.' But as Audrey looked a little mystified over this speech, he
continued: 'I would not have you neglect Mr. O'Brien for the world. I
only wish Vineyard Cottage were a mile or two nearer, and I would often
smoke a pipe in that earwiggy bower of his. I have a profound respect
for Thomas O'Brien. I love a man who lives up to his profession, and is
not above his business. A retired tradesman who tries to forget he was
ever behind the counter, and who goes through life aping the manners of
gentlefolk, is a poor sort of body in my eyes; he is neither fish, fowl,
nor good red herring. Now Mr. O'Brien is as proud of being a
corn-chandler as'--he paused for a simile--'as our drummer-boy was of
belonging to the British army.'

'Poor old man! he has seen a peck of trouble, as he calls it.'

'There, you see,' interrupting her delightedly, 'his very language
borrows its most powerful imagery from his past belongings! Do you or I,
Audrey, in our wildest and most despairing moments, ever talk of a peck
of trouble? Depend upon it, my dear, when Thomas made that speech,