Bruce was finding his association with Freeman increasingly agreeable. The architect, amusingly indifferent and careless as to small things, was delighted to find that his new subordinate was not afraid to assume responsibility and grateful that Bruce was shielding him from the constant pecking of persons who called or telephoned about trivial matters. “By the way, Storrs, can you run into the country this afternoon?” Freeman asked. “I promised Franklin Mills I’d meet him at his farm to look at the superintendent’s house. I’ve put him off several times and now that Brookville man’s coming in to talk house and I’ve got to see him. There’s not much to do but get data and make my apologies to Mills. Mrs. Freeman just called up to say she’s going out there to ride. Mills is having a party, so he’ll get through with you quickly. I don’t want him to think me indifferent about his work. He’s been a loyal client.” “Yes, certainly,” Bruce replied, reluctant to trouble Freeman by refusing, but not relishing another meeting with Mills. “Everybody knows where Deer Trail is--you’ll have no trouble finding it. I think he said he’d be there by two-thirty. Listen carefully to what he says, and I’ll take the matter up with him tomorrow. Now about the specifications for that Sterling house----” It was thus that Bruce found himself at Deer Trail Farm on the afternoon of the day that Mills was giving his riding party. Mills, with whom punctuality was a prime virtue, came down the steps in his riding clothes and good-naturedly accepted Bruce’s excuses in Freeman’s behalf. “Freeman’s a busy man, of course, and a job like this is a good deal of a nuisance. You can get the idea just as well. Can you ride a horse?” Bruce, whose eyes had noted with appreciation the horses that had been assembled in the driveway, said that he could. “All right, then; we’ll ride over. It’s nearly a mile and we’ll save time.” He let Bruce choose a horse for himself from a dozen or more thoroughbreds, watched him mount with critical but approving eyes, and they set off over a road that led back through the fields. Mills sat a horse well; he had always ridden, he explained as they traversed the well-made gravel road at a trot. Finding that Bruce knew something of the American saddle stocks, he compared various breeds, calling attention to the good points of the horses they were riding. When they reached the superintendent’s house Bruce found that what was required was an extension that would provide the family with additional sleeping rooms. He took measurements, made notes, suggested a few difficulties, and in reply to Mills’s questions expressed his belief that the addition could be made without spoiling the appearance of the house. “I suppose I really ought to tear it down and build a new house, but this hundred acres right here has been in my family a long time and the place has associations. I hate to destroy it.”