“That,” replied Mrs. Fairfax, “is another point on which we will disagree amiably. According to accounts, there is room for much improvement in Paraguay in every way. The Shelfs are just the people to bring it about. They simply bristle with energy. If he had the handling of the finances of the country they would be bound to take an upward turn; and, for the social part, she is just the one woman in all the world to lay down an entire set of new and up-to-date laws. Moreover, she’d make them dress like Christians and Parisians, and that is an art (if one may believe pictures) in which they are obviously deficient.” “Hum,” said Fairfax. “Your notions may be generous, Amy, but I’m afraid they lean towards anarchy.” “I am grateful to people who have done well by me personally, that is all. You apparently are not. You might remember, my dear boy, that it was through Mrs. Shelf that you and I came together in the first instance. But, perhaps, you are angry with her for that? You may be tired of me already?” Hamilton Fairfax laughed, and drew down his wife’s face to his own, and kissed her three times. “If you put it that way,” he said, “I shall have to swallow my resentment against the Shelfs for good and all.” “That’s right,” said Amy. “Now I like you ever so much better. I say, ring the bell and let’s go out for a spin in the tandem.” CHAPTER XXVI. THE LUCKY MAN. No one ever accused Mr. Reginald Lossing of having brains; no one ever denied that he had a luck which was monumental. He had a name for luck which was looked up to and marveled at, even in the society papers. Mr. Lossing had no settled trade or profession; he was like unto a lily in the matter of toil and dress, and he made a very comfortable income at it. He dabbled in outsiders on the turf, in shares of uncharted gold mines, in the fascinating game of unlimited loo; and was able to look complacently on the results. He went into all these and other operations with a genial, childish simplicity; and, like the banker at roulette, there always seemed a steady pull in his favor. How it was done no one knew; he did not know himself; and he and all his world marveled, and prophesied that his luck would some day turn with a rush and a sweeping tide. When he got mixed up with the Shelf affair it seemed as if this would be the case. There was something very near akin to a panic in Lloyds’ when the total loss of the _Port Edes_ was reported, and those unfortunates who had underwritten her were anxious to dispose of their risks at remarkable prices to any credulous man who believed that this first report was a _canard_. Consequently there was some pretty steep gambling gone through in the space of minutes, and more than one small man got broke with surprising rapidity. Now, Master Lossing happened to be in the room as an idle spectator, and was hit with the excitement, and asked a friend who was a member to act for him. “I’m going to play a hand in this,” quoth Master Lossing.