Allardyce wrote, he scarcely spoke for the rest of the day, and it was
a long time before he recovered from the blow; I was staying at
Sandymere. He loved you, Dick, and I imagined he expected you to do
even better than his son."

Blake mused for a few moments, and Mrs. Keith could not read his
thoughts.

"Bertram is a good fellow," he said. "Why should his people think less
of him because he likes to paint? But I've been sorry for the Colonel;
more sorry than I've felt for myself."

There was a softness in his dark blue eyes that appealed to Mrs. Keith.
She had been fond of Dick Blake in his younger days and firmly believed
in him. Now she could not credit his being guilty of cowardice.

"Well," she said, "you have a long life before you, I trust; and there
are people who would be glad to see you reinstated."

He made a sign of grave dissent.

"That can't happen, in the way you mean. I closed the door of the old
life against my return, with my own hands; and you don't gain
distinction, as the Challoners think of it, in business."

"What business have you gone into?"

Blake's eyes gleamed humorously.

"At present, I'm in the paint line."