'Briscoe,' said Lee, 'for the first work of a newlyborn art, we are----' 'Beating the record.' 'Exactly, my rough and ready friend.' CHAPTER IV A HEAVY FATHER 'Now, Jane, let me understand this about Muriel. You say she is at present engaged in a grand love affair with some young hopeful or other.' 'Yes, Henry. Frank Hay is a very good-looking, clever, well-behaved young man. He has taken one of the big bursaries in Glasgow University, and looks forward to a professorship somewhere. These prospects are rather mediocre, especially in connection with a Chartres; but neither William nor I would have said a word against him were he not a foundling.' 'A foundling! How very interesting! An actual foundling.' 'O, there's nothing unusual about his case. I forget the exact details, but they differ in no essential from what we are accustomed to in stories.' 'That's rather unfortunate. I should have liked everything connected with these events to have the same characteristic as the main circumstance, distinct novelty.' 'What do you mean, Henry? Muriel is right in thinking you curiously changed.' 'Does she think so? Well; I should have stuck by my original determination, and gone to bed; but I felt so invigorated after dinner, that I thought we might as well have a talk over matters this evening.' 'Yes,' said Miss Jane, dryly, prodding Lee all over with her piercing eyes. 'Do you think,' she queried, 'we did right in forbidding Muriel to have any communication with Mr. Hay?' 'Well, my dear sister, you must see that the question of right hardly enters here. It is purely a matter of adapting means to an end. Should the course you have followed, as in the case of a pair of high-spirited lovers, be calculated to lead to strained relations, and produce, say, an elopement, I should be inclined to support you; as, although shorn of much of its romance in these days of railways and telegraphs, there is always a measure of excitement to be got out of a runaway match.' Miss Jane meditated for several seconds; and hopefully came to the conclusion that her brother had developed a satirical tendency, which he gratified in this recondite fashion. She made no reply. Lee resumed. 'I think you had better send Muriel to me. I would like to have a talk with her alone.' 'Very well,' said Miss Jane curtly, and left the room.