"Ah, you have me there! The ladies have not taken me into their counsel: I've got troubles enough of my own. One phase of the subject especially gratifies me: their activities have in no instance despoiled the landscape; rather the contrary. These lakes, wooded to their brims, are altogether delightful, and well stocked with fish. A great many of them overflow, causing admirable little cascades, which, although not quite so impressive as Niagara, are most refreshing on a hot day, while the cadence of falling waters serves as an acoustic background to the songs of the birds; a musical accompaniment, as one might call it." "Bravo, Ned; I call that quite poetical, coming as it does from a successful man of business. I find myself eager for that automobile ride through this forest lakeland. When do you say Miss Maturin will arrive?" "I don't know. I expect my sister will call me up by telephone. Sis regards this house as her own. She is fond of leaving the giddy whirl of society, and settling down here in the solitude of the woods. I clear out or I stay in obedience to her commands. You spoke of a house-party a while ago. There is to be no house-party, but merely my sister and her husband, with Miss Maturin as their guest. If you would rather not meet any strangers, I suggest that we plunge further into the wilderness. At the most remote lake on this property, about seven miles away, quite a commodious keeper's lodge has been built, with room for, say, half a dozen men who are not too slavishly addicted to the resources of civilisation. Yet life there is not altogether pioneering. We could take an automobile with us, and the telephone would keep us in touch with the outside world. Fond of fishing?" "Very." "Then that's all right. I can offer you plenty of trout, either in pond or stream, while in a large natural lake, only a short distance away, is excellent black bass. I think you'll enjoy yourself up there." Stranleigh laughed. "You quite overlook the fact that I am not going. Unless ejected by force, I stay here to meet your sister and Miss Maturin." For a moment Trenton seemed taken aback. He had lost the drift of things in his enthusiasm over the lakes. "Oh, yes; I remember," he said at last. "You objected to meet anyone who might wish you to invest good money in wild-cat schemes. Well, you're quite safe as far as those two ladies are concerned, as I think I assured you." Ned was interrupted, and seemed somewhat startled by a sound of murmured conversation ending in a subdued peal of musical laughter. "Why, there's Sis now," he said, "I can tell her laugh anywhere." As he rose from his chair, the door opened, and there entered a most comely young woman in automobile garb, noticeably younger than Trenton, but bearing an unmistakable likeness to him. "Hello, Ned!" she cried. "I thought I'd find you here," then seeing his visitor, who had risen, she paused. "Lord Stranleigh," said Trenton. "My sister, Mrs. Vanderveldt."