And he wheeled forward a chair facing the light, and took one for himself, so that his own face should be shaded. Jack looked round the room while Slummers brought the tray. The four walls were nearly covered with books, all of them of the dryest and most serious kind. Where any space was left, it was filled up with portraits of eminent divines and philanthropists, and every article in the room was neatly and methodically arranged. In fact, it presented as marked a contrast to Jack's rooms as it was possible to conceive. Jack had not been inside it for years, but he remembered distinctly how he used to loathe the room and its "fixings." "Now, my dear Jack, pray help yourself--those cigars I know you approve; I heard you praise them at the Hurst, and I brought a box at once." "Thanks," said Jack, and he lit a cigar. Stephen mixed the Apollinaris and brandy; and leaned back serene and amiable. "And now, my dear Jack, I am ready to answer all questions." Jack looked down and frowned thoughtfully. He did not know how to put them. Stephen smiled maliciously behind his hand. "You want to know how it comes about that Miss Rolfe is under my mother's charge--under my charge, I may say?" "Under yours?" said Jack, grimly. Stephen nodded. "It is a very simple affair, Jack. There is no mystery. The fact is, I have known Miss Rolfe's father for some years. He is a very good fellow, but very eccentric." "I know," said Jack; "I've seen him." Stephen started, and concealed his expression of surprise by reaching for his glass. "Ah, then, no doubt, you noticed that his appearance and manner does not correspond with the station he occupies?" "I did," said Jack. "Yes, yes, just so. Well, my dear Jack, my poor friend Rolfe has been in early life unfortunate--money matters, which I never quite understand. Like most men of his kind, he got disgusted with the world and hid himself--there is no other word for it. But it is one thing to hide yourself and quite another to bury your children. My friend Rolfe felt this when he awoke to the fact that his daughter had grown from a child to a young woman, and like a sensible man he applied to one who was conversant with the world, and one in whom he could have, I trust, full confidence--my self." Jack sat silently regarding the white, calm face with grim, observant eyes. "He did not appeal to an old friendship in vain. I undertook the charge of Miss Rolfe on one condition. I may say two--one on her side, one on mine. Hers was that she should live with my mother, under her protecting wing, as it were; mine was that I should be the absolute guardian of the young girl committed to my charge." Jack stared. "You are Una's guardian?" he said, at last, with unconcealed surprise, as Gideon Rolfe's curse upon the race of Davenants flashed upon his memory. Stephen Davenant smiled.