"Horrible, horrible!" said Mrs. Graves, "but are there enough to go
round the village?"

"Two apiece," said Jack, "to every man a damsel or two! Now, Maud,
come on--ten o'clock, to-morrow, Sir--and perhaps a little fishing
later?"

"You had better stay to lunch, whenever you come and work in the
morning, Jack," said Mrs. Graves; "and I'll turn you inside out
before very long."

Howard went off to his work with a pleasant sense of the open air.
They dined together quietly; after dinner he went and sate down by
Mrs. Graves.

"Jack's a nice boy," she said, "very nice--don't make him pert!"

"I am afraid I shan't MAKE him anything," said Howard. "He will go
his own way, sure enough; but he isn't pert--he comes to heel, and
he remembers. He is like the true gentleman--he is never
unintentionally offensive."

Mrs. Graves laughed, and said, "Yes, that is so."

Howard went on, "I have been thinking a great deal about our talk
yesterday, and it's a new light to me. I do not think I fully
understand, but I feel that there is something very big behind it
all, which I want to understand. This great force you speak of--is
it an AIM?"