"He left many messages for you, and there is a packet of instructions that I suppose explains his wishes. You see he did not really think of dying; we all considered him improving until that fatal hemorrhage. The business is left to Eugene. Then there are legacies and incomes,"--with a rather hopeless sigh. "Don't feel troubled about it, mother dear. I suppose Eugene likes the business?" in a cheery tone. "No, I am afraid not very well. He is young, you know, and has had no real responsibility. O Floyd, I hope you will be patient with him!" "To be sure I will." Patience seems a very easy virtue just now. "There is the partner?" "Yes, Mr. Wilmarth. And a Mr. St. Vincent has an interest, and there is a good deal about machinery that I do not understand----" "Never mind. Let us talk about the girls. Gertrude looks but poorly. She has never rallied over her unfortunate love." "I think she always expected to hear something, and would make no effort. She is not really ill. It is only allowing one's self to collapse. She ought to have done better, for she was really beautiful. I thought her prettier than Irene Stanwood in those old days, but no one would fancy _her_ the older now." Mrs. Grandon feels her way very cautiously. She is not at all sure what her son's relations with this handsome guest are, or may be, and she desires to keep on the safe side. "Isn't she marvellous?" He stops suddenly in his slow pacing. "When I stumbled over her in Paris she seemed to me like some of the strange old stories of woman blessed with unfading youth. And yet I do not believe she had a really satisfying life with her count and his family. It must have been something else, some rare, secret philosophy. Yet she seemed so sort of friendless in one way, and was coming to America for the settlement of the business, so I thought we might as well have her here for a little while. I wonder if it will annoy you?" he asks quickly. "Oh, no!" she answers in a careless tone. "You are the only one who would be annoyed." "My epidermis has thickened since those days," he returns, with a laugh. "What an unlucky lot we were! Gertrude, Marcia, and I, all crossed in our first loves! I hope Laura's fate will be better." "Laura's prospects are very bright," says the mother, in a kind of exultant tone. "She is engaged to a young man every way unexceptionable, and was to have been married in the spring. She is very anxious now--you see no one can have any money until----" "I can soon straighten such a bother. When would she like----" "Mr. Delancy is very impatient now. It would be mortifying to confess that only a matter of wedding clothes stands between, when everything else is desirable." "Consider that settled then." "O Floyd! Laura will be so delighted!" There is relief in her tone, as well. A great anxiety has been dispelled. The bell in the village up above peals off ten, and the still air brings it down with a touch of soft mystery.