Porter best for being so boyish, or so manly. But manly men who
retain all the enthusiasms of youth have a certain charm one likes
instinctively, I think.

There is no doubt that Mr. Porter quite captivated Dad. "You make me
feel like a boy," he said, after listening to a delightfully
whimsical account of conditions in Peru. "By George, that's a
country for you! And Ecuador, I've always thought that must be an
interesting place. Have you ever been there?"

Yes, Mr. Porter had been to Ecuador. And there was a certain rail-
road in India he had helped put through. India! Now that WAS a
place! Had Dad ever been to India?

No, Dad had never been to India, but . . . "Good Lord, boy, how old
are you, anyway?"

"Thirty-two."

"Well, I never would have guessed it. Would you, Elizabeth?"

This, too, was rather embarrassing, but I managed to say I thought
Mr. Porter didn't look a day over twenty-eight.

"It's the life he leads," Dad declared with an air of
proprietorship--"out of doors all day long. It must be great!"

"It IS interesting. But I think I like it best for what it has done
for one; you see, I was supposed to have lungs once, long ago. Now
I'm as sound as a dollar."