"Well, on second thoughts I hardly know if it is worth while. I shall have to go straight home. Has Colin told you about his absurd fad? I wish Giles would not encourage it." "Modelling?" "Messing about with wet clay. Such ridiculous nonsense! Four huge packing-cases have come from Italy, with casts that he bought there. He never said a word in writing. I can't conceive why he should be so secretive; and I can't imagine what put the notion into his head." "Nature!" spoke Mr. Dugdale at her side. "It is inborn." She turned with a nervous movement of her hands, as if repudiating something. "I never had the smallest taste that way. Nor any of my family." "That may be. A genius is often a family freak—not to be accounted for by ordinary rules of heredity. No doubt traceable, if one had the means of tracing it, to some distant ancestor. You ought to be thankful for Colin's gift—no matter how he came by it." She asked "Why?" Her fine eyes going to his face, as if in search for some sub-meaning. She was handsomer than Kathleen Alyn; yet the greater charm rested with the younger woman. There was a lack of repose in Mrs. Keith; and she seemed to be perpetually on the watch for something to controvert. "At the least it is a harmless occupation; and he needs something to do. Desk-work, of course, is out of the question." "I don't see it, now he is stronger. Besides—" She stopped. "He will never be strong enough for head-work. I don't mean strength in the muscular sense. His brain wouldn't stand the tension. You were going to say—besides—what?" "There is no need that he should work." "I don't agree with you. No self-respecting man will consent to be a burden on another." "Colin is not a burden." Her eyes flashed resentfully. "It is Giles' delight to give him a home." Kathleen made danger-signals from behind, but Mr. Dugdale failed to read them. Although himself a man prone to take offence, he was apt to say the wrong thing, thereby giving offence to others; and he never could imagine why offence should be taken. "My dear lady, it may be Giles' delight to support half the neighbourhood; but half the neighbourhood has no right to be supported by him. Neither has Colin. The two are not related; and if they were, I should still say he ought to work for himself. Eh, Kathleen? Yes?" Mrs. Keith drew up a haughty head. "I suppose you consider me to be living on charity too," she said coldly. "Certainly not; that is different," Mr. Dugdale interposed; but she went on, refusing to listen— "I am extremely obliged! All those years that I lived for Giles do not count! Goodbye, Kathleen. It is later than I thought. I must go on." Mrs. Alyn offered no protest. She signed to her father to remain where he was, slipped an affectionate arm within Mrs. Keith's, and walked down the carriage-drive. When she returned, a slight smile was on her lips. "Now you 'have' put your foot in it, father!"