Mrs. Folyat led the way to the dining-room, and he sat at the table and they round him, and they devoured him with their eyes. He looked from one to the other. He thought that Gertrude looked sly, Mary plain, but he liked the mischief in Minna's eyes, and she had a wide friendly grin and a dimple in her cheek. His mother was so much older than he had imagined her and he wanted to tease her out of it. She was wearing a white woollen shawl, and she had shoved her spectacles up on to her forehead when Minna broke in upon her reading. The room was dark and rather oppressive and none of the windows were open. Minna lit the gas and pulled down the blinds. "Well!" said Mrs. Folyat, "you _have_ taken us by surprise." "I meant to," replied Serge. "I went to St. Withans first. I didn't know you'd gone. I walked on here." "Walked!" This came from Mary. "Yes. It's a nice cheerful hole you've come to live in." "Horrible!" said Minna. "Dreadful!" capped Mrs. Folyat. "But your father would come. He said his place was among the poor." Gertrude and Mary exchanged glances, but said nothing. Serge noticed it and tried another topic. "How's all the children? How many are there?" "Oh! My dear." Mrs. Folyat felt for her handkerchief. Minna answered for her. "Annette's away. She's a governess with some rich vulgar people. James is dead. He fell from the roof. Frederic is out. He always is. We're in. We always are. And that's the lot." "What about Leedham?" "I forgot Leedham. He's in Rio, in a bank. Are you rich, Serge?" Serge felt in his trousers pocket and produced four sovereigns, three shillings and ten coppers. He laid them out neatly on the red baize table-cloth. "That's all," he said. Minna laughed and counted out the money. Gertrude and Mary and his mother looked at Serge in dismay. "I don't know," said Serge. "If this place isn't full of money, there's no excuse for it." "It's a queer place," said Minna, "and not so much money in it as all that. What you've got would be wealth to most of father's people." "Your father," put in Mrs. Folyat, "said his place was among the poor. I'm sure he got what he wanted." Serge felt that she was fishing for his opinion. He gave it. "I met a man," he said, "who brought me to the door. He said my father was very good to the poor. He was a wretched devil who had just been let out of prison." "Sam Dimsdale. That's his name." Minna heaped Serge's money up into little piles. "How's Frederic?" asked Serge. "Frederic's a solicitor," replied Mrs. Folyat with a little show of pride. Conversation flagged until Mrs. Folyat asked Gertrude and Mary to get the supper, and then Serge insisted on helping and asked if he might cook an omelette. Mrs. Folyat bade him stay with her. He sat opposite her and she fixed her spectacles and looked long at him. Then she said: "You're like your father, but there's a look in you too of my mother. What are you going to do?"