"You really have no business with a successful invention, Mr. Grey," said the guest--"you who are already so rich." And he smiled up into Prue's face, who had risen to remove his plate, with a look that conveyed his high sense of her value, and so embarrassed the child that she dropped his knife and fork with a clatter. "I don't like him," Rob confided to Wythie, when their father had borne Mr. Marston away for a preliminary smoke--like his colonial ancestors dealing with the Connecticut aborigines--leaving the girls with their mother to their task of clearing away. "I don't like him--he's too good to be true--but if he only will like the machine my likings and dislikes don't matter." Later Rob's father called her, and she went to help in displaying the invention which she almost felt was as much hers as her father's. Silently she moved the parts of the machine, co-operating with her father as he talked, and silently the visitor watched the proceedings, stroking his mustache and letting nothing escape his keen eyes, as Rob saw, while she, in her turn, sharply, though furtively, eyed the impassive face concealing its owner's verdict on the Greys' hopes. At last the exposition of the machine was over, and Rob busied herself with replacing the covers of the models, while her father and Mr. Marston dropped into neighboring chairs for its discussion. "It's unquestionably a good thing, Mr. Grey," the visitor said. "The improvements are important, and, what is more, practical. I feel that I have no right to say anything definite until I have seen my partner, but I am perfectly within bounds in saying that I am thoroughly convinced as to the value of your patent, and that we shall be ready to make you an offer for it. At the same time I should be glad if you will not show it to anyone else until that offer has been made and discussed; I should like to retain an option on the machine." "When I wrote you, Mr. Marston, and allowed you to come here to see the invention, I considered it equivalent to a pledge not to allow anyone else to see what might become your property, and would be valueless to you if it were not protected," said Mr. Grey, quietly. Rob waited to hear no more. She ran from the room, and caught Wythie and Kiku in a comprehensive embrace, meeting them as they came, one in the other's arms, across the hall. "It's all right, it's all right, Oswyth, saint and martyr!" she cried, whirling Wythie around, and sending Kiku leaping, panic-stricken by her onslaught, to the top of the portière at the door. "He says he's thoroughly convinced of the value of the patent, and he asks Patergrey to keep it for him till he can consult with his partner as to the offer they mean to make for it. Oh, I knew, I knew all along it was coming right, but now it has come right, I'm ready to die of joy."