think of bringing me a present."

"But, mother, you wouldn't care for this sort of thing," he protested,
"and it was awfully cheap."

"Cheap and nasty!" she retorted. "If you had offered me such hideous
rubbish, I'd have sent it straight to the dustbin!"




CHAPTER V

CLOUDS

It was an abnormally hot summer; all London lay at the mercy of a
fierce and fiery sun; grass in the parks was brown, plants drooped in
window boxes, and there was not even a little breeze to stir the soft
dust under foot, nor one hopeful cloud in the blue vault overhead. But
in the sky of Douglas Shafto's existence dark and threatening clouds
were gathering; the largest of these was a haunting fear that his
mother intended to marry her admirer, Manasseh Levison--the prosperous
dealer in furniture and antiquities, a wealthy man, who owned, besides
his business, a fine mansion at Tooting; this he had closed after the
death of Mrs. Levison, when he had repaired to "Malahide" for society
and distraction--bidden there by his lively old friend, Mrs. Moses
Galli. The shrivelled little miserly widow was his confidante, and,
for the illumination of Mrs. Shafto, she had drawn glowing pictures of
Khartoum House, and outlined an imposing sketch of the luxuries
awaiting its future mistress. It was noticed as a significant fact