"Oh, no," Austin said calmly. "I often tell her if I had come into the world a little sooner, I might have had a chance with you. As it is, you scorn me and call me a mere boy." "And so you are, and ever will be in my eyes; so don't you try to be different." "As long as we're chums, I don't much care. When is that man going away?" "Which man?" "Oh, there aren't so many about here—Neville. I took him fishing, and didn't cotton to him." "For any reason?" "Now, don't speak with that distant air. He wouldn't unbend. I chaffed him about his politics. Hate a fellow who won't stand chaff! He treated me like a fly upon the wall." "You're very young," said Sidney; then, meeting a glare from the corner of Austin's eye, she added quietly: "and impudent." "A de Cressiers is never snubbed in these parts," said Austin laughing. "That's my mother's creed, you know, and Neville gave her the biggest snub she has received for a long while, so she and I both bear him a grudge. Why is he so superior?" "He never strikes me to be anything different from ourselves," said Sidney. "He is a reserved man, and not a very happy one. He is a disappointed man, I should say. Life has treated him hardly." "You seem to know a lot about him. I'm a disappointed man, and life is treating me hardly, but I don't talk to people as if I am in the sky and they in the gutter." Austin finished with a little chuckle. His naturally sunny temper overcame his sudden prejudice. "We'll let him go hang!" he said. "Will you come out sand-eeling with me to-morrow?" And in the interest of this new topic, Randolph sank into the background. About a week later, Randolph went to dine with the Admiral. He arrival punctually at eight o'clock, but found the house in a commotion. The Major met him at the door. "Have you seen my niece? We thought she might be at the Farm." "Is she lost?" Randolph asked lightly. "By George!" said the Major, bringing his fist down with force upon the hall table. "Do you think we're going to allow that for a moment? She went out after lunch, and said she would be back to tea. It's close on eight now, and no one seems to have seen anything of her." "She has not been near the Farm," said Randolph, sobering at once. "Did she go on the river?" "She never said she was going," said the Major. "Is the boat missing?" No one seemed to have thought of looking. The Admiral came forward: "It was only ten minutes ago that we discovered that she was not in the house. I have been out riding all the afternoon, and have not been in long. Wherever she is, she must have been delayed by some grave cause, for she is never late for dinner."