He made room for her on the sofa by his side. "Say now, I am not the sort of looking person you expected to find." Ella smiled charmingly. Somehow she had taken a great and sudden fancy to him. "I had always thought of you as being so different," she said. "As an ogre, no doubt," he rejoined, with a comical nod. "I know. Poor Gilbert! he had his curious fancies, and one of them was to abuse me: I'm as sure of that as if I'd heard him. My dear, I cannot tell you how pleased I am to meet you. Confess now, that you had expected to see some dangerous kind of fellow in me: one that bites, eh?" "No, indeed," returned Ella. "I am surprised because I had no expectation of seeing you." "And you find me a worse hobgoblin than you imagined?" "I do not find you one at all," she said, taking the place beside him. "Well, well; a certain personage is said not to be so black as he is painted; let us hope that it will prove so in the present case. Ah! what a pity it is that Frank's not here to-night!" he added, abruptly. "Your son, Mr. Denison?" asked Ella, her serious dark-blue eyes bent full upon him. "Yes, my son; my will-o'-the-wisp, my ne'er-do-weel, the plague of my life," answered Mr. Denison. In his short, sharp sentences, and abrupt turns, Ella was put strongly in mind of her uncle. "I should have been greatly pleased to meet him," she said. "Is he away from home?" "Away from home!" exploded the old gentleman. "He's nearly always away from home. I never know to a thousand miles where to lay my finger on him. He might be a gipsy for restlessness. He is always gadding about from Dan to Beersheba. An incorrigible young fellow--a rolling stone that will never rest anywhere. I wish to goodness he would get married to some woman who knew how to tame him and make him settle down at home!" Ella felt amused; her face showed it. Mr. Denison shook his head and frowned. "Now, why couldn't Frank have married you, for instance?" he suddenly asked, after a brief pause. This amused her more. "Dear Mr. Denison, I fear it would be altogether beyond my powers to tame so inveterate a roamer," she quietly said. "Not at all--not at all. You are just the sort of woman to do it." It seemed rather doubtful to Ella whether this ought to be taken as a compliment. "It would have been so satisfactory, you know, to have had all the property in a nutshell--yours and mine," added the old gentleman. "Not that Frank need covet money: I shall be able to leave him some. But Heron Dyke ought to have been his--after me; he is nearer to it than you are. My dear, you have too much good sense, as I can see, to take offence at an old man's crotchets, and I am speaking to you as friend speaks to friend." "I hope you will always so speak to me," warmly interrupted Ella.