And Ben, relieved, walked across the room, finding she was easier to talk to than his mother. ‘Eh? Yes, it is the same Hillyard,’ he said, with a laugh which had some pleasure in it. ‘I was his right-hand man then, and now he is mine. That is all the difference; but we have always hung together all the same.’ ‘Then you have done better than he has,’ said Mary, looking up at him with a smile. And Ben came and stood by the side of the table she was working at, and looked down upon her as he spoke. ‘He’s a very good fellow,’ he said, ‘but he does not stick to his work. There are some people who do best to be masters, and some who do best to be subordinate. And when he is not master, poor fellow, he is worth a dozen ordinary men.’ ‘When some one else is master?’ said Mary, with natural female gratification. ‘No compliments,’ said Ben. ‘A man needs to be as hard as iron, and as bold as brass;--though why brass should be the emblem of unpleasant boldness, by the way, I don’t know.’ When there had been as much of it as this, Mrs. Renton began to stir uneasily. ‘I cannot hear what you two are saying,’ she said. ‘You have light enough for your work generally at this window, Mary. Why should you go away so far to-day? And, Ben, I can see there are two or three things here you did not read to me. There is a dreadful burglary somewhere, in a country-house like this. It is dreadful to think we might be killed in our beds any nights,--and gives it such an interest;--and there is a great deal out of “Galignani” in the French article. “Galignani” is always amusing. But Mary will read it to me when you go out.’ ‘I was not thinking of going out,--at present, mother. When is Laurie coming? He ought to be here,’ said Ben. ‘I don’t understand how a man can choose to shut himself up in London at this time of the year.’ ‘But he is working at something,’ said Mary. ‘He is always working at something, and I don’t know what it is ever to come to. Laurie ought to be the eldest son,--if there is to be an eldest son among us,’ said Ben. ‘I think that would be the best solution. He could muse about his fields, and paint the trees, and make a very good country gentleman,--don’t you think so, Mary?--and marry and make everybody comfortable;--that is how it ought to be.’