the existence of any foolish sentimentality. Though younger than Cora,
Lancy seemed by his steady ways and manly behavior to be the eldest of the
family. Perhaps the fact that his father talked so much with him, and
interested him in matters that seldom claim the attention of youths of his
age, had something to do with his manner, but behind his usual calm
exterior there was an amount of conceit not always apparent to others, a
conceit that placed himself above the ordinary High School boys who had
been his daily associates. This they had felt intuitively, and with his
precise habits and nicety of dress had caused him to be dubbed "the dandy."

Another member of the Gurney household must also be mentioned, for Hugh
McNeil belonged to the family almost as much as Lancy himself, seeing that
he had been cared for by Mrs. Gurney before Lancy was born. He was the son
of a strange marriage, a marriage that had turned out disastrously. His
father had been valet to Mr. Gurney's eldest brother, and, while attending
his master in Paris, had fallen in love with a pretty French waitress, and
secretly married her. On returning to England with his master, the French
wife followed him and revealed the marriage, and this so enraged McNeil's
master that he discharged him on the spot. Whereupon McNeil, after securing
a comfortable lodging for his wife, left for Australia, intending to send
for her as soon as he obtained permanent employment. Before he had done so,
the French wife died in giving birth to little Hugh; and the matter coming
to the knowledge of Mrs. Gurney, she had pitied the motherless babe and had
him placed in a comfortable home. As he grew older, Mrs. Gurney became so
fond of her young protégé that he was taken into the family, and was given
an education that enabled him, in later years, to be of much service to his
benefactors.

In looks he favored both parents, inheriting the strong, sturdy frame of
his Scotch father, with the dark features and piercing black eyes of his