third suit for foreclosure, I'll drop round to your attorney's office,
accept service of the summons, appear in court, and confess judgment."
Fell a silence. Then, "Do you enjoy the study of people, sir?" Don
Miguel demanded, apropos of nothing.

"Not particularly, Mr. Farrel. Of course, I try to know the man I'm
doing business with, and I study him accordingly, but that is all."

"I have not made myself explicit," his host replied. "The racial
impulses which I observed cropping out in my father--first Irish, then
Spanish--and a similar observance of the raised impulses of the peons
of this country, all of whom are Indian, with a faint admixture of
Spanish blood--always interested me. I agree with Pope that 'the
proper study of mankind is man.' I find it most interesting."

"For instance?" Parker queried. He had a feeling that in any
conversation other than business which he might indulge in with this
young man he would speedily find himself, as it were, in deep water
close to the shore.

"I was thinking of my father. In looking through his effects last
night, I came across indubitable evidence of his Celtic blood.
Following the futile pursuit of an enemy for a quarter of a century, he
died and left the unfinished job to me. Had he been all Spanish, he
would have wearied of the pursuit a decade ago."

"I think every race has some definite characteristics necessary to the
unity of that race," Parker replied, with interest. "Hate makes the
Irish cohesive; pride or arrogance prevents the sun from setting on
British territory; a passionate devotion to the soil has solidified the