hours later as jauntily as his gout would permit, and conscientiously
dispensing the hospitalities of his crumbling house. When he had
arranged a few pleasure parties for the day and himself thoughtfully
anticipated the different tastes of his guests, he turned to Lady
Mainwaring.

"Don't forget that somebody ought to go to the station to meet the
Bradleys. Frank writes from St. Moritz that they are due here to-day."

Lady Mainwaring glanced quickly at her husband, and said sotto voce, "Do
you think they'll care to come NOW? They probably have heard all about
it."

"Not how it affects me," returned Sir Robert, in the same tone; "and
as they might think that because Frank was with them on that California
mountain we would believe it had something to do with Richardson
involving the Bank in that wretched company, we must really INSIST upon
their coming."

"Bradley!" echoed the Hon. Captain FitzHarry, overhearing the name
during a late forage on the sideboard, "Bradley!--there was an awfully
pretty American at Biarritz, travelling with a cousin, I think--a Miss
Mason or Macy. Those sort of people, you know, who have a companion
as pretty as themselves; bring you down with the other barrel if one
misses--eh? Very clever, both of them, and hardly any accent."

"Mr. Bradley was a very dear friend of Frank's, and most kind to him,"
said Lady Mainwaring, gravely.

"Didn't know there WAS a Mr. Bradley, really. He didn't come to the