"You see, we haven't got a house yet," she said; "nothing would induce Cuthbert to live in the house his mother left him. We must get that off our hands before we settle ourselves in another, and then I think we shall go to the Riviera this winter. He has several portraits that he wants to paint there." Once, with a laugh, she had said-- "I have two minds to ask Rupert to lend us that big house of his. It is absurd to shut it up for months at a time when we are homeless." It was, therefore, as much on the children's account as anything else that Haverford went to Yelverton. Nevertheless, he found himself travelling down to Mrs. Brenton's comfortable house with a sense of eagerness that was half pleasure. The reason for his visit to the States had not been wrongly reported; chance had brought to his knowledge the fact that there were some connections of Matthew Woolgar settled in America--humble, struggling people to whom money would be a godsend. He spent at least a couple of months before he came across a trace of these people, and then, to his disappointment, found that the family had dwindled to two old people, who were quite unfit to take the voyage to England, and for whom little was possible except placing them in comfortable circumstances. So he said to Agnes Brenton when he told her of all this. "You see, I can't get rid of my money." "It seems to me," said Mrs. Brenton, "you have made a very good attempt at it." Then, with a little colour in her face, she added, "I go back to my old theory about you. I want to see you well married. I should like you to take a prominent part in the life of the day." He made no remark for a little while, then he said-- "Yes, I shall marry; I hope soon." To herself Mrs. Brenton confessed a great disappointment. "An American woman!" she said to herself. "I did hope he would have married somebody over here." The welcome the children gave him was a royal one; but Caroline barely touched his hand, and expressed no pleasure at seeing him again. It seemed however, that he had something to say to her. "I want to talk to you about the children," he said. "Will you come out into the garden?" "I thought everything was settled for the time being," Caroline said. "There are various things I should like to discuss with you." She stole a little glance at him as they walked into the well-remembered path, where now the rose-bushes were barren of bloom and the ground was carpeted with faded leaves. He was looking wonderfully well, with that bronzed look in his skin, which made his teeth so white, and his eyes so delightful. She noticed that he seemed altogether brisker, and his first speech touched on this. "Do you know that my trip to America has done me a lot of good? It has shaken me up--hustled me out of my old groove. The Americans are a wonderful nation! There are no rich idle men there, they have given me enough hints to keep me employed for the rest of my existence."