would reply that his preference, naturally, must be for England. If asked
further whether he liked Chicago--an inquiry which courtesy might well
have withheld--he would answer promptly and plainly, No. And there the
matter would end: he never gave detailed explanations. He was prepared,
it came to be understood, to put the best face on a bad matter. He
remained, however, a loyal subject of the Queen, and prayed for as speedy
a sight of Boxton Park, Witham, Essex, as fortune would permit. And in
the meantime he enjoyed such makeshift pleasures as came his way.

Among these was that of leaving his card at several good houses--the card
of Arthur Gerald Scodd-Paston. People met him at functions as Mr.
Scodd-Paston, but most of them found his name rather a large mouthful;
after they had used it enough times to show that they had caught it and
were not unable to wield it, they would dispense with the forepart and
use the Paston alone. This usage received the approval of a certain
few who had had the privilege of addressing royalty--or subroyalty--and
who remembered that, after they had used the expression "Your Royal
Highness" a few times, they were entitled to an occasional lapse into the
simpler "you." At the office, where he was by no means a royal highness,
he was always Paston, and Paston merely.

His father was a general in the British army, but lately retired. He
never referred to this dignitary, as such, save twice. These early
references, pointed but discreet he held to suffice; he estimated,
properly enough, that his father's fame, once started, might be trusted
to spread of itself; and it did--along with the son's modesty.

It was doubtless to his father's personal influence that he was indebted
for his connection with a great mortgage and investment company, which
extended, in a chain of many links, all the way from London to Colorado,