'It is a fine thing to be rich!' the lady went on, gazing at the clock. 'You are just about as rich as I am,' said Dane in the same tone. 'I!— As you!!' 'Practically.' 'I don't know what you mean by practically. You have millions, and I have a few hundred or so.' 'I mean only, that neither of us has anything that he can call his own.' Mrs. Coles stared, but her interlocutor seemed to be looking at things in a very matter-of-fact way. He was now busy fitting another engraving into its fame; a plain black walnut frame, without carving or gilding, like the rest. 'I cannot conceive what you mean, Dane,' Mrs. Coles broke forth. 'It is perfectly simple. Surely the fact that we are only stewards of what we hold, is not strange to you?' It seemed to be strange however, for Mrs. Coles weighed the statement. '_But_ Dane,—people do not take that so closely.' 'What then? There is the fact.' 'Prudentia, you have heard papa say the same thing, at least a hundred times,' Primrose reminded her. 'He hadn't much to talk about,' said the doctor's eldest daughter. 'And Dane, _you_ do not take it so closely, either. What do you mean by your fine proposal to go travelling? How will you do it, if you have not the money?' 'I hold the money, to be used for the very best ends and interests I know. If when the time comes, I see any way that I can spend the money better, I'll not go.' 'But it would be spending the money on yourself—yourself and your wife—if you went, at any rate,' persisted Mrs. Coles. 'And you say, it is not yours.' 'Mine to spend.' 'On what you please.' 'No; in such ways as will best do the work the Owner of the money wants done.' 'And what has your travelling to do with that? I don't see.' 'If _I_ don't see, as I said, I'll not go.' 'But how could it, you contradictory man?' 'Human nature often needs relaxation and recreation,' said Dane. 'Mine might.' 'Relaxation!' said Mrs. Coles. 'When you know as well as I do, that you are a pine knot for endurance, and a very burr for persistence.' 'Don't take her statements, Hazel,' said Dane. 'She does not know much about the vegetable creation, if she does about me.' 'But answer me, if you can.' 'Human nature also needs cultivation, I was going to add. A servant must make himself the best servant he can. A man is bound to give himself and his family the utmost of every kind of cultivation that is possible to him without neglecting higher ends.' 'H'm. And is Mrs. Rollo's travelling clock— Which class does that come under?' 'Pleasure.' 'O you hold pleasure lawful then?' 'Certainly. Within the above limits.' 'Prue, Prue,' said Prim uneasily. 'Stop. You have gone far enough; and too far.' 'I was seeking knowledge, Prim; and that, Dane says, is commendable. May I ask one other question, Dane? What head do these mean little picture frames come under?'