“Humph! That won’t do, son.... Hush, Esther!... No, that won’t do. You are figuring to earn a living at this sort of work, aren’t you?” “Yes. I--well, I hope to some day. But--” “There aren’t any ‘buts.’ You’ve worked a good many days at this job--must have. No reason why you shouldn’t get your regular wages. I want this picture and I can afford to pay for it. How much?” Again Griffin shook his head. “It isn’t for sale, Captain Townsend,” he declared. “I have given it to Esther. It is hers. Of course, if she wants to sell it, that is different. But I can’t. It isn’t mine.” “Rubbish! There’s no reason why you should give it to anybody. And I don’t intend you shall. I’m going to buy it. That is settled.” “No, sir, I’m afraid it isn’t settled--in that way. You can’t buy it from me.” Foster Townsend’s brows drew together in the way which his niece recognized as a storm signal. She tried to avert the hurricane. “It is mine, Uncle Foster,” she protested. “Don’t you see? It is mine now and it is going to be yours. I--” “Hush! See here, young fellow, you’ve forgotten one thing, I guess. Maybe I don’t care to have Esther take presents from--” he paused, coughed and added gruffly, “from anybody. Perhaps I don’t.... Here, I tell you! If you won’t sell it to me, sell it to her. I’ll see that she gets the money to pay for it. Now, then, how much?” Bob still smiled. His reply was just as good-natured, but also just as firm. “Esther can’t buy it, either,” he said. “No one can. If she won’t have it as a present from me--why, then I’ll keep it for my own. I shouldn’t mind having it in the least,” he added, with a twinkle. It was this last sentence which caused Foster Townsend to hesitate. The roar which his niece had dreaded and which Griffin had expected was not uttered. He scowled, took a turn to the doorway, stood there for a moment looking out, and when he turned back the scowl had disappeared. The corner of his lip lifted in a one-sided smile of surrender. “You are a stubborn young mule, aren’t you,” he observed. “All right, do as you please. If money is no object to you it is to me and I ought to be thankful to save a little, I suppose. Esther, I’m much obliged for my birthday present.... Well, Griffin, you’ll go so far as to let me send Varunas for the thing, won’t you? Won’t insist on fetching it up to the door with your own hands?” Bob, very much surprised--he could scarcely believe that his all powerful opponent had actually capitulated--laughed and stammered that he guessed there would be no objection to Varunas’s acting as carrier. Before he could say more his visitors had bade him good afternoon and departed. It was not until they had gone that he remembered that neither he, nor Esther, had mentioned meeting again. His surprise would have been still greater if he could have heard a remark made by Foster Townsend to his niece as the pair walked along the path toward home.