"My dear," he cried in a flurry, "you are, after all, of my flesh and blood. And flesh and blood has its claims." Joan's quiet voice came to his help: "Besides, the debt is not all on one side, Cynthia. We were not very contented until you came to us, were we Robert?" "No, we weren't," he replied with relief, like a man floundering who finds solid ground under his feet. "We had lived hard and had done a great deal of work, and we were beginning to ask ourselves why. The heat and the ardor were over, you see. Our lives were cooling down. We had come to a time when one is apt to sit at night over the fire and wonder regretfully, now that no change is possible, whether we hadn't aimed at the wrong things and got less than we might have got out of our lives. We had piled up, and were still piling up, a great deal more money than we had any use for. We had made Daventry out of a plain as bare as the palm of my hand, and we had no one very dear to us to whom we could leave it. There didn't seem to be much use in things. Next week was going to be like this week, and the week after like next week, and life altogether nothing more than a succession of dull things. We were very nearly abandoning the estancia and retiring to England when my brother died." "And left me to you," said Cynthia. Robert Daventry nodded. "And then our discontent vanished," said he. Cynthia shook her head. "I don't remember very much of those days, but I remember enough to be sure that I gave you a good deal of trouble." She spoke lightly to hide the emotion which the kindness of these friends had stirred in her. Joan Daventry smiled. "Yes, you gave us trouble, Cynthia," she said. "We are frightened by it still, at times. We are growing old and there is no other young spirit in the house, and it is possible that you might find your life rather dull, just as we did before you came to us." "Dull?" cried Cynthia. "With you two dear people?" She held a hand lovingly to each, and now was hiding nothing of what she felt. "Besides, I have my friends. I meet them in Buenos Ayres. They come here to visit me. You gave them to me, as you have given me everything. Look at the number of them!" and she proudly pointed to her letters. She read them through and she breakfasted, and at the end of the meal gathered them in her hands. "I must send some telegrams," she said. "I will drive to the railway station." "Now?" Joan Daventry asked anxiously. "Can't they be sent later, in the afternoon, Cynthia?" "No, mother," Cynthia replied. "Some might wait, but there's one which must go off now."