All this, you understand, about a man he hardly knew by sight! ... I found it in my heart to wish that Brackenbury _had_ been present when the Erskines dined. _Nothing_ could have been more charming. He talked too wonderfully about music; I asked him a little about himself, _he_ asked me about _my_self--that delightful first exchange when you are laying the foundations of friendship. Having no children himself, he was of course most anxious to hear about Will--what he had done before the war, where he was in France at present, what he proposed to do when the war was over... As _he_ had introduced the subject, I told him frankly that I found great difficulty in making up my mind and should be truly grateful if he would tell me, from his _very_ wide experience, what he considered most hopeful. He promised to let me know; and, a few days later, when I was dining with him, he asked whether I expected Will home any time soon on leave, as he always had a certain number of openings in his own various businesses. This from the man who never did anything for anybody unless he expected a rich return, the man who _used_ people but never allowed any one to use _him_... I had _asked_ for nothing; in my haste I had told Arthur that we could _look_ to him for nothing. And if you knew; the long agony of anxiety that I have endured... I may say, ever since we took Will away from Eton. I have seen my darling home in Mount Street threatened... The war was a god-send: _some_thing to keep him occupied, a _little_ pocket-money; and, so long as he was not in danger, I prayed for it to go on... "My dear Sir Adolphus," I said, "the _first_ time he comes home you shall meet him." That was in October. Suddenly, lo and behold! the armistice was upon us, and the whole _world_ was looking out for jobs. I laboured and _strove_ to bring Will home; and, the moment he arrived, I invited Sir Adolphus to dine. He telegraphed that he was at Rock Hill, but could we not spend a few days with him there? My maid was out. I began to pack with trembling fingers... Is it not curious that difficulties always seem to come from the _least_ expected quarter? Here was Will's whole future secured; he had woken up, as it were, with a golden spoon in his mouth. My dear, I had the _utmost_ difficulty in persuading him to come at all. What he wanted was a holiday, he said; after all he had gone through, he was entitled to a good time. And, though he had never met the Erskines, he had formed an unreasoning prejudice against them which was incomprehensible in any one of his breadth of mind... I do assure you that we reached a deadlock. "Will," I said very firmly, "I _ask_ you to come." "And I refuse point-blank," he answered. "You will be sorry for it later," I warned him, "when the opportunity has slipped beyond recall."