"Oh, it is wonderful!" Hilarie looked at her new cousins with some anxiety. The first young man seemed altogether "quite:" well-dressed, well-spoken, well-mannered, well-looking, of goodly stature, a proper youth. In fact, proper in the modern sense. His turn-out was faultless, and of the very day's--not yesterday's--mode. She turned to the other. Circumstances, perhaps, were against him: the dust with which he was covered; the shabby old bag hanging round his neck; his violin-case. A gentleman does not travel on foot, carrying a violin. Besides, his face was not the kind of face which comes out of Eton and Trinity. It was a humorous face; there was a twinkle, or the fag end of a smile, upon it. Such a girl as Hilarie would not at first take readily to such a face. However, he looked quiet, and he looked good-natured; his eyes, realizing the oddness of the situation, were luminous with suppressed laughter. "Molly," he said, "please tell this lady--your friend--who I am." "Hilarie, this is Dick Woodroffe. I suppose you have never heard of him. I never thought of his name being the same as yours. Dick is an actor. He sings and plays, and writes comediettas; he is _awfully_ clever." "Thank you, Molly. Add that I am now on tramp." He looked with some contempt on the other young man. "Since you are my cousin, Mr. Woodroffe, I hope we shall be friends." Hilarie shook hands with him. "My name is Hilarie Woodroffe, and I am descended from the eldest brother. The old house, which I will show you presently, has remained with us. And you--are you really another cousin?" She turned to the first comer. "I hope so. My name is Humphrey Woodroffe." "Oh, this is delightful! May I ask what your branch has been doing all these years?" "I have a genealogy at home. We have had no more Lord Mayors or Archbishops. A buccaneer or two; a captain under Charles the First; a judge under William the Third; and an Anglo-Indian, my father, now dead, of some distinction." "Your branch has done more creditably than mine. And yours, Cousin Dick?" He laughed. "We went down in the world, and stayed there. Some of us assisted in colonizing Virginia, in the last century, by going out in the transports. There is a tradition of highwaymen; some of us had quarters permanently in the King's Bench. I am a musician, and a mime, and a small dramatist. Yet we have always kept up the memory of the Sheriff." "Never mind, Dick," said Molly; "you shall raise your branch again." He shook his head. "There is not so much staying power," he said, "in a Sheriff as in a Lord Mayor." Hilarie observed him curiously. "Why," she said, "you two are strangely alike. Do you observe the resemblance, Molly?" "Yes. Oh yes!"--after a little consideration. "Mr. Humphrey is taller and bigger. But they certainly _are_ alike." "Good Heavens! It is wonderful. The same coloured hair, growing in the same manner; the same eyes. It is the most extraordinary instance of the survival of a type."