"It’s rather cruel," she said under her breath. Silvette came in bringing a chilled fruit salad, bread and butter, cold chicken, and tea. "We’ll have to put it all on at once. You don’t mind, do you, Mr. Edgerton?" He said smilingly but distinctly: "One’s own family can do no wrong. That is my creed." Diana looked up at him. "I wondered whether you knew we were relations," she said, flushing deliriously. "You see," added Silvette, "it was not for us to remind you." "Of our kinship? Why not?" "Because you might have considered it an added obligation toward us," said Diana, blushing. "I do—a delightful one; and it is very gracious of you to acknowledge it." "But we don’t mean to presume on it," interrupted Silvette hastily. "Some day we really do mean to regulate our financial obligations toward you." "There are no such obligations. Please remember what roof covers you——" "Mr. Edgerton!" "And whose salt——" "It’s our salt, anyway," said Diana; "I bought it myself!" They seated themselves, laughing; then suddenly Edgerton remembered, and he went away with a hasty excuse, only to return again with a brace of decanters. "My uncle’s port and sherry," he said. [Illustration: "’My uncle’s port and sherry,’ he said."] Silvette jumped up and found half-a-dozen old-time glasses; and the luncheon continued. "Isn’t it ridiculous!" observed the young fellow, glancing around the studio; "here am I surrounded by a fortune in idiotic antiquities, lunching from a table that the Metropolitan Museum inherits after my death, sipping a sherry which came from the cellars of a British monarch—with two dollars and several cents in my pockets, and not the slightest idea where to get more. _Isn’t_ it funny!" Silvette forced a smile, then glanced significantly at her sister. Diana said, gravely: "We have several hundred dollars. Would you be kind enough to let us offer you what you require for immediate use until——" "Why, you blessed child!" he said, laughing, "that isn’t what worries me now!" "Then—what is it?" inquired Silvette. "You and your sister." "What do you mean, Mr. Edgerton?" "I mean that I’m worried over your prospects!" "Why, they are perfectly bright!" exclaimed Diana; "In a few days somebody will employ us to help entertain a number of stupid and wealthy people. We’ll make a great deal of money, I expect; don’t you, Silvie?" "Certainly; but I’m wondering what Mr. Edgerton is going to do with two dollars in his pocket and us in his apartment." "So am I," said Diana. "It’s perfectly charming of you to care." "What an odd thing to say to us! Is it not very natural to care? Besides your being related, you have also been so considerate and so nice to us that we’d care anyway, I think. Don’t you, Silvie?" Silvette nodded her golden-crowned head. "The thing to do for the present," she said, "is for you to take that farther room. It was Diane’s idea, and I entirely agree with her—after seeing you."