ernoon at Seldon, and he is authorised, in every
respect, to negotiate with full powers on behalf of myself and the
other directors. With kindest regards to your wife and sons, I
remain, dear Sir Charles, yours faithfully,

"CRAIG-ELLACHIE."

"Cunning old fox!" Sir Charles exclaimed, with a sniff. "What's he
up to now, I wonder? Seems almost as anxious to amalgamate as we
ourselves are, Sey." A sudden thought struck him. "Do you know,"
he cried, looking up, "I really believe the same thing must have
happened to _both_ our exploring parties. _They_ must have found a
reef that goes under _our_ ground, and the wicked old rascal wants
to cheat us out of it!"

"As we want to cheat him," I ventured to interpose.

Charles looked at me fixedly. "Well, if so, we're both in luck,"
he murmured, after a pause; "though _we_ can only get to know the
whereabouts of _their_ find by joining hands with them and showing
them ours. Still, it's good business either way. But I shall be
cautious--cautious."

"What a nuisance!" Amelia cried, when we told her of the incident.
"I suppose I shall have to put the man up for the night--a nasty,
raw-boned, half-baked Scotchman, you may be certain."

On Wednesday afternoon, about three, young Granton arrived. He was
a pleasant-featured, red-haired, sandy-whiskered youth, not unlike
his father; but, strange to say, he dropped in to call, instead of
bringing his luggage.

"Why, you're not going back to Glen-Ellachie to-night, surely?"
Charles exclaimed, in amazement. "Lady Vandrift will be _so_
disappointed! Besides, this business can't be arranged between
two trains, do you think, Mr. Granton?"

Young Granton smiled. He had an agreeable smile--canny, yet open.

"Oh no," he said frankly. "I didn't mean to go back. I've put up at
the inn. I have my wife with me, you know--and, I wasn't invited."

Amelia was of opinion, when we told her this episode, that David
Granton wouldn't stop at Seldon because he was an Honourable.
Isabel was of opinion he wouldn't stop because he had married an
unpresentable young woman somewhere out in South Africa. Charles was
of opinion that, as representative of the hostile interest, he put
up at the inn, because it might tie his hands in some way to be the
guest of the chairman of the rival company. And _I_ was of opinion
that he had heard of the castle, and knew it well by report as the
dullest country-house to stay at in Scotland.

However that may be, you