recalled Cossie, stout and smiling, with rather pretty eyes and a
ceaseless flow of chatter. She had ugly hands and thick red lips, her
hair was coarse, but abundant, and she frequently borrowed her sister's
rouge. Cossie was immensely good-natured and affectionate, and he
would be sorry to hurt her feelings, poor little thing.

Then as to his mother and her marriage to Levison, he hated to think of
it. He could not endure his future stepfather; between them there
existed a bottomless chasm of dislike and distrust. Levison considered
Shafto a conceited young cub, "but a clever cub"; and Shafto looked on
Levison as a purse-proud tradesman, ever bragging of his "finds," his
sales, and his titled customers.

Douglas had never felt so abjectly miserable since the time of his
father's death; his depression was such that he wished he was dead too;
but fate was in a kindly mood and, although he was unconscious of the
fact, the clouds were lifting.




CHAPTER VI

AN EMPTY OFFER

The night that Shafto subsequently spent was wakeful and seemed
endless; he tossed about on his hard bed and thumped the irresponsive
pillow, paced his room from end to end, drank all the water in the
carafe--and even encroached on the ewer; he felt as if his vitality had
been sapped, that he had no energy with which to face his new position,