conclusion."

"Then Jack and Maud can come and lunch with me," said Mrs. Graves;
"you won't want them, I am sure."

"You are a sorceress," said Mr. Sandys, "in the literary sense of
course--you divine my thought!"--but it was evident that he had
much looked forward to using a little diplomacy, and was somewhat
disappointed. He went on, "It will be very kind of you to have
Jack, but I think I shall want Maud's assistance. I have a great
belief in the penetration--in the observation of the feminine mind;
more than I have, if you will excuse my frankness, in their power
of dealing with a practical situation. Woman to interpret events,
men to foresee contingencies. Woman to indicate, man to predicate--
perhaps I mean predict! No matter; the thought, I think, is clear.
Well, then, that is settled! I claim Howard for luncheon--a very
simple affair--and for a walk; and by five o'clock we shall have
settled this important matter, I don't doubt."

"Very well," said Mrs. Graves; "but before you go, I must claim YOU
for a short stroll. I have something to tell you; and as Howard and
Jack are dying to get away to deprive some innocent creatures of
the privilege of life, they had better go and leave us."

That evening Howard had a long, quiet talk to his aunt. She said,
"I am not going to talk business. Our lawyer is coming over on
Saturday, and you had better get all the details from him. You must
just go round the place with him, and see if there is anything you
would like to see altered. It will be an immense comfort to put all
that in your hands. Mind, dear boy," she said, "I want you to begin