"Have a drink," said Septimus, filling his after-breakfast pipe.

The pistol shot brought Wiggleswick, who, in his turn, brought whiskey and
soda, and the two friends finished the afternoon in great amity. Before
taking his departure Sypher asked whether he might read through the proofs
of the gun book at home.

"I think I know enough of machinery and mathematics to understand what
you're driving at, and I should like to examine these guns of yours. You
think they are going to whip creation?"

"They'll make warfare too dangerous to be carried on. At present, however,
I'm more interested in my railway carriages."

"Which will make railway traveling too dangerous to be carried on!"
laughed Sypher, extending his hand. "Good-by."

When he had gone, Septimus mused for some time in happy contentment over
his pipe. He asked very little of the world, and oddly enough the world
rewarded his modesty by giving him more than he asked for. To-day he had
seen Sypher in a new mood, sympathetic, unegotistical, non-robustious, and
he felt gratified at having won a man's friendship. It was an addition to
his few anchorages in life. Then, in a couple of hours he would sun himself
in the smiles of his adored mistress, and listen to the prattle of his
other friend, Emmy. Mrs. Oldrieve would be knitting by the lamp, and
probably he would hold her wool, drop it, and be scolded as if he were a
member of the family; all of which was a very gracious thing to the
sensitive, lonely man, warming his heart and expanding his nature. It
filled his head with dreams: of a woman dwelling by right in this house of