Fanny's father had not liked Edward Churchill; he had therefore left his money tied up in such a way that neither Churchill nor any children whom he might have should be much benefited by it; Fanny herself, though she had a comfortable income for life, could not dispose of it. This accounted for the very small sum belonging to Eva: she had only the few hundreds that came to her from her father. But she had been brought up as though she had many thousands; studiedly quiet as her life had been, studiedly simple as her attire always was, in every other respect her existence had been arranged as though a large fortune certainly awaited her. This had been the mother's idea; she had been sure from the beginning that a large fortune did await her daughter. It now appeared that she had been right. "I don't know what you thought of me for bringing a fellow-countryman down upon you yesterday in that unceremonious way, Mrs. Churchill," Bartholomew was saying. "But I wanted to do something for him--I met him at the top of your lane by accident; it was an impulse." "Oh, I'm sure--any friend of yours--" said Fanny, looking into the teapot. Bartholomew glanced round the little circle on the rug, with an expression of dry humor in his brown eyes. "You didn't any of you like him--I see that," he said. There was a moment's silence. "Well, he is rather a commonplace individual, isn't he?" said Dallas, unconsciously assuming the leadership of this purely feminine household. "I don't know what you mean by commonplace; but yes, I do, coming from _you_, Dallas. Rod has never been abroad in his life until now; and he's a man with convictions." "Oh, come, don't take that tone," said Mark Ferguson; "I've got convictions too; I'm as obstinate about them as an Englishman." "What did your convictions tell you about Rod, then, may I ask?" pursued Bartholomew. "I didn't have much conversation with him, you may remember; I thought he had plenty of intelligence. His clothes were--were a little peculiar, weren't they?" "Made in Tampa, probably. And I've no doubt but that he took pains with them--wanted to have them appropriate." "That is where he disappointed me," said Gordon-Gray--"that very appearance of having taken pains. When I learned that he came from that--that place in the States you have just named--a wild part of the country, is it not?--I thought he would be more--more interesting. But he might as well have come from Clerkenwell." "You thought he would be more wild, you mean; trousers in his boots; long hair; knives." All the Americans laughed. "Yes. I dare say you cannot at all comprehend our penchant for that sort of thing," said the Englishman, composedly. "And--er--I am afraid there would be little use in attempting to explain it to you. But this Mr. Rod seemed to me painfully unconscious of his opportunities; he told me (when I asked) that there was plenty of game there--deer, and even bears and panthers--royal game; yet he never hunts."