Perhaps she was a little distraught as Louise slipped silently from her seat, and took the empty dishes on her little tray that had stood unseen by the side of her chair. “What a charming little sister!” said Maxwell. Cornelia’s heart glowed, and she looked up with an appreciative smile. “She is a darling!” she said earnestly. “I’m just getting to know her again since I came home from college. She was only a baby when I went away.” He looked interestedly at the sweet older sister. “I should imagine that might be a very delightful occupation. I think I should like an opportunity myself to get acquainted with her. And say, suppose you tell me about these other people. Now I’m here, I’d like to know them a little better. I haven’t quite got them all placed. Your father I know. We came up together, and it doesn’t take long to see he’s a real man. I shall enjoy pursuing the acquaintance farther if he is willing. But about these others. Are they—relatives? This girl at my right, is she another sister, or only a friend?” “Oh, she is our minister’s daughter,” answered Cornelia brightly. “She’s rather a new friend, because we’ve only been living in this part of the city a short time; but we like her a lot.” “She looks it,” he said heartily. “And the next one is your brother. I like his face. He is—a college boy, perhaps?” “No, he’s only finished high school,” Cornelia said with a bit of a sigh. “Mother wanted him to go to college, but he didn’t seem to want to, and—well—I suppose the real truth about it was I was in college and the family couldn’t afford to send another. I was blind enough not to know I ought to come home and give the next one a chance. However, Carey—” She looked at him wistfully; and the young man, keenly alert to her expression perhaps read a bit of her thoughts. “College isn’t always the only thing,” he said quickly. “You, being a college woman, have naturally thought so, I suppose; but upon my word I think sometimes it’s more harm than good to a boy to go to college.” Cornelia gave him a grateful smile, and he saw that this had been one of her pains and mortifications. He liked her more, the more he talked with her. She seemed to have her family so much at heart. He lifted keen eyes to the young man across the table. “That’s one of his friends, I suppose?” Cornelia nodded half dubiously. “He owns the car at the door?” “Yes.” There was a whole volume expressed in her tone. The keen eyes looked Brand over a second. “Interesting face,” he commented. “Does he belong to the automobile Barlocks?” “Why, I don’t know,” said Cornelia. “I’ve only just come home, you know. He’s Carey’s friend; that’s all I know. I didn’t even remember he had the same name as the automobile people.” “And who is the other young woman? She is not—a minister’s daughter, too?” he asked with an amused twinkle in his eyes. Cornelia gave him a quick deprecatory glance. “No,” she said, half ashamed. “She is just—an experiment.”