She considered this for a moment or two. It was hardly an English point of view, but--for his family had long been one of station--there was a hint of pride that struck her as rather fine about this renunciation. It was a risky thing to insist on being taken at one's intrinsic value, stripped of all accidental associations that might enhance it, but she thought he need not shrink from the hazard. Now and then he spoke with slightly injudicious candor, and sometimes too vehemently, but in essential matters he displayed an admirable delicacy of feeling and she recognized in him a sterling sense of honor. "I've broken loose again and you're feeling shocked," he said humorously. "It's your own fault; you have a way of making one talk. There's no use in discoursing to people who don't understand. However--and it's much more important--how's the book getting on?" "More important than my wounded susceptibilities?" Millicent laughed. "But we won't mind them. I'm pleased to say I've heard from the publishers that it's in strong request. Indeed, they add, rather superfluously, that the demand is somewhat remarkable, considering the nature of the work." Lisle laughed at this. "Any more reviews?" She handed him several and he noticed the guarded, unenthusiastic tone of the first two. "These are the people who prefer a thing like a catalogue. This fellow says the first portion of the book shows most care in particulars and classification--it's what one would expect from him. That was your brother's work, I think. He was not an imaginative person." "No," replied Millicent. "He was eminently practical and methodical." "There's a great deal to be said in favor of that kind of man. You can trust him when it's a case of grappling with practical difficulties. But I feel quite angry with the next reviewer. 'The illustrations are rather impressionist drawings than a useful guide to identification.' The fellow would no doubt rather have those stiff, colored plates which are about as like the real, breathing creature as a stuffed specimen in a museum." Millicent was pleased with his indignation, but his disgusted expression changed as he read the next cutting. "Now," he exclaimed, "we're arriving at the sound sense of ordinary people, lovers of nature who're not naturalists. This man's enthusiastic; the next review's even better!" He took up the others and there was keen satisfaction in his eyes when he laid them down. "Great!" he ejaculated. "I expected it. You've made your mark!" The girl thrilled with pleasure; his delight at her success was so genuine. "Well," she told him, "the publishers suggest that I undertake another and more ambitious work. I've often thought that I should like to do so. The lonely country between the Rockies and the Pacific has a peculiar interest to me and I've long had a desire to follow my brother's trail. I don't think it's a morbid wish--somehow I feel impelled to go."