too cynical, and I've a favor to ask. Will you take Edgar out with
you?"

George felt a little surprised. Edgar was her brother, a lad of
somewhat erratic habits and ideas, who had been at Oxford when George
last heard of him.

"Yes, if he wants to go, and Stephen approves," he said; for Stephen,
the lawyer, was an elder brother, and the Wests had lost their parents.

"He will be relieved to get him off his hands for a while; but Edgar
will be over to see you during the afternoon. He's spending a week or
two with the Charltons."

"I remember that young Charlton and he were close acquaintances."

"That was the excuse for the visit; but you had better understand that
there was a certain amount of friction when Edgar came home after some
trouble with the authorities. In his opinion, Stephen is too fond of
making mountains out of molehills; but I must own that Edgar's
molehills have a way of increasing in size, and the last one caused us
a good deal of uneasiness. Anyway, we have decided that a year's hard
work in Canada might help to steady him, even if he doesn't follow up
farming. The main point is that he would be safe with you."

"I'll have a talk with him," George promised; and after a word of
thanks Ethel turned away.

A little later she joined Mrs. Lansing, who was sitting alone in the
shadow of a beech.