Madeline's tolerance of them.

"Indeed, no; you had better sit down and talk to me--that is, if you
have got nothing pleasanter to do."

We can guess Sir Eustace's prompt reply and Madeline's smiling reception
of the compliment, as she seated herself in a low chair--that same low
chair she had occupied the day before.

"Now for it," said Sir Eustace to himself. "I wonder how George is
getting on?"

"My brother tells me that he came to see you yesterday," he began.

"Yes," she answered, smiling again, but wondering in her heart how much
he had told him.

"Do you find him much changed?"

"Not much."

"You used to be very fond of each other once, if I remember right?" said
he.

"Yes, once."

"I often think how curious it is," went on Sir Eustace in a reflective
tone, "to watch the various changes time brings about, especially where
the affections are concerned. One sees children at the seaside making
little mounds of sand, and they think, if they are very young children,