His face was quite itself the next morning; the scowl and the cruelty had alike disappeared; and it was with an even less cynical smile than usual that he looked up from his morning paper at a few minutes past ten o’clock, as the door opened with a hasty knock, and Julian Romayne appeared. “Good morning, dear boy!” said Loring pleasantly. “Morning, old man!” responded Julian. He was looking rather pale and anxious, and he went on quickly: “Nothing wrong with ‘Welcomes,’ I hope?” Loring smiled again. “Nothing in the world, as far as I know,” he said gaily. “What a nervous fellow you are!” “What an unreasonable fellow you are!” retorted Julian, the cloud vanishing from his face as if by magic. “What do you mean by dragging a poor wretch down here at this hour in the morning, whether he will or no? What’s up?” It was some legal business, it appeared; and Loring proceeded to go into it with great circumstance. It sounded very important as he put it, but Julian took his leave, declaring gaily that he “didn’t see where the urgency came in.” “You’re such an abominably hard-working fellow!” he said lightly. “Perhaps!” returned Loring. “It’s not such a bad principle, and it’s an excellent character to have, let me tell you. By-the-bye, Julian,” he continued, as the young man turned away with a laugh, and laid his hand on the door, “how would you like to have a few more Welcomes?” He rose as he spoke, and stood leaning against the mantelpiece with his back to the empty grate, confronting Julian as the young man turned sharply towards him. “What do you mean?” said Julian. “Are there any in the market?” “Well, yes,” said Loring quietly. “The fact is, there’s a certain shooting in Scotland which I have coveted for years. It’s for sale now, and on uncommonly reasonable terms. Of course, it’s appalling extravagance on my part, for the shares are going up every day. But I am going to sell a thousand pounds’ worth of Welcomes to-day and buy that moor.” “It is extravagance!” said Julian, and there was an eager light in his blue eyes. “Like to have the shares?” said Loring imperturbably. Julian hesitated. “I should like them, of course,” he said, rather breathlessly. “So would lots of other fellows. But, you see, my thousands, what there were of them, are all locked up in the Welcome already.” “You wouldn’t think it worth while to borrow, I suppose?” enquired Loring carelessly. “There’s a little difficulty known as security.” “For some fellows, of course,” was the answer. “But not for you. You’ve got money coming to you.” Julian coloured a dull red, and looked down at the carpet, moving his foot to and fro uneasily. The idea of raising money on a reversion for such a purpose was for the moment inexpressibly repugnant to him. “The shares are going up every day,” said Loring; “you ought to make a good thing of it; and you’ll sell at the end of this week, I take it? However, of course, I don’t want to press you. They’ll go off fast enough.”