"Oh," said Grace, rather sharply, "I suppose this means you have given
him the lease of the station coal yard? No doubt he offered to bring the
gravel before you agreed. He's cunning and knew you wanted the terrace."

"I can't remember if he offered before or afterwards," Osborn replied,
with a touch of embarrassment. "Anyhow, I don't think it's important,
because I did not allow his offer to persuade me. For all that, it's some
satisfaction to get the work done cheap."

Grace pondered. She was intelligent; contact with her school companions
had developed her character, and she had begun to understand Osborn since
she came home. She knew he was easily deceived and sometimes
half-consciously deceived himself.

"No," she said, "I don't think the work will really be cheap. It's often
expensive to take a favor from a man like Bell. He will find a means of
making you pay."

"Ridiculous! Bell can't make me pay."

"Then he will make somebody else pay for what he does for you, and it's
hardly honest to let him," Grace insisted.

Mrs. Osborn gave her a warning glance and Osborn's face got red.

"It's a new thing for a young girl to criticize her father. This is what
comes of indulging your mother and making some sacrifice to send you to
an expensive modern school! If I'd had my way, you would have gone to
another, where they teach the old-fashioned virtues: modesty, obedience,
and respect for parents."