ning, I am quite sure."

"Can we, Mamma?"

"My dear, we will not discuss the matter any further," said her mother.
"It is a very old question and very perplexing, I confess, but--"

"We don't see Captain Jack very much since his return," said her father,
turning the conversation. "You might begin with him, eh, Patsy?"

"No," said the girl, a shade falling on her face. "He is always busy.
He has such long hours. He works his day's work with the men and then he
always goes up to the office to his father--and--and--Oh, I don't know,
I wish he would come. He's not--" Patricia fell suddenly silent.

"Jack is very much engaged," said her mother quietly.

"Naturally he is tied up, learning the business, I mean," said the elder
sister quietly. "He has little time for mere social frivolities and that
sort of thing."

"It's not that, Adrien," said Patricia. "He is different since he came
back. I wish--" She paused abruptly.

"He is changed," said her mother with a sigh. "They--the boys are all
changed."

"The war has left its mark upon them, and what else can we expect?" said
Dr. Templeton. "One wonders how they can settle down at all to work."

"Oh, Jack has settled down all right," said Patricia, as if analysing
a subject interesting to herself alone. "Jack's not like a lot of them.
He's too much settled down. What is it, I wonder? He seems to have quit
everything, dancing, tennis, golf. He doesn't care--"

"Doesn't care? What for? That sounds either as if he were an egotist or
a slacker." Her sister's words rasped Patricia's most sensitive heart
string. She visibly squirmed, eagerly waiting a chance to reply. "Jack
is neither," continued Adrien slowly. "I understand the thing perfectly.
He has been up against big things, so big that everything else seems
trivial. Fancy a tennis tournament for a man that has stared into hell's
mouth."

"My dear, you are right," said her father. "Patricia is really talking
too much. Young people should--"

"I know, Daddy--'be seen,'" said the younger daughter, and grinning
affectionately at him she blew him a kiss. "But, all the same, I wish
Captain Jack were not so awfully busy or were a little more keen about
things. He wants something to stir him up."

"He may get that sooner than he thinks," said Stillwell, "or wishes. I
hear there's likely to be trouble in the mills."

"Trouble? Financial? I should be very sorry," said Dr. Templeton.

"No. Labour. The whole labour world i