"Three. Frankly, very frankly, is this a thing"--here I used the large page of ornamental letter-press as word-saver--"is this a thing for an ordinary investor?" "Ordinary investor"--that is what I called Raymond. Perhaps I flattered him unduly. "Why," responded McComas, with a grimace, "it's a right enough thing for the right man--or men. Several of us expect to do pretty well out of it." "'Several'? How about the rank outsider?" "Anybody that _you_ know sniffing?" "Yes." "Who?" "Well--Prince." "H'm." Johnny pondered; became magnanimous. "Well, it ain't for him. Pull his nose away. I don't want his money." He knew what he had taken. He may have had a prescience of what he was yet to take. He could afford an interim of generosity. V A year or so went on, and we met the McComases at a horse-show. Once more it had become distinguished to have horses, and to exhibit them--in the right place. Althea was with her parents; so was the survivor of the stalwart twins. Johnny had taken the blow hard. That a son of his, one so strong and robust, a youth on whom so much time and thought and care and money had been lavished to fit him for the world, should go down and go out (and in such a sudden, trivial fashion)--oh, it was more than he felt he could endure. But he was built on a broad plan; his nature, when the test came, opened a wide door to the assimilation of experiences and offered a wide margin for adjustment to their jars. His other son, the full equal of the lost one, still survived and was present to-day; and Johnny, grandly reconciled, was himself again. Althea had taken the interval to make sure about her hair-ribbon and her skirts. The ribbons had been pronounced outgrown and superfluous, and had been banished. The suitability of longer skirts had been felt, and had been acted upon. Althea was now almost a young lady, and a very pretty one. I say it without bitterness. The beauties of nature--those trifles that make the great differences--are indeed unequally distributed among human creatures. Not all girls are pretty; not all attractive; not all equipped to make their way. No. You will assume for yourselves the greenery of grass and trees, the slow cumuli in the afternoon sky, the lively, brightly dressed throngs on lawns and verandas, and the horses; yes, even those were present, somewhere or other. Gertrude McComas was of the crowd; suitably dressed (or, perhaps, attired), a little less spare than once, and somehow conveying the impression, if unobtrusively, that her presence was necessary for the completeness of the function. She was pleasant with Althea, who had a horse on her mind and a number on her back.