"You helped. You delayed the animal long enough for her to get a start--and moreover you tried to attract him to yourself, you know, so the end justifies the reward, I think." "A large reward for a trifling service," he remarked. "The trifling and the large--depend on the respective points of view!" she smiled as he placed her chair. When he turned to take his own, he saw that Mrs. Lorraine was upon his right. "Your reward is out of all proportion even from your point of view," he said, with a significant glance at Stephanie. "Do you object?" Gladys asked. "Does a thirsty man refuse drink?" "Not if he is thirsty--and not always if he _isn't_." "I trust I shall always be thirsty--and deserving." "It is up to yourself, Mr. Porshinger," she said. And he understood. He was being given his chance to make good--to make friends--to make himself popular. If he failed, he would have only himself to blame. His look wandered around the table. Pendleton was just across between Mrs. Burleston and Miss Tazewell. Cameron was Mrs. Lorraine's partner. Presently she turned and greeted him with a smile. "I hope you suffered no ill effects from the unfortunate experience of yesterday," he said. "None whatever!" she laughed. "Not even a bruise. I might fancy I flew over the fence, if I didn't know otherwise. However, I avoided the Overton path this morning." "You walked this morning?" he asked. "I walk every morning, when I'm in the country." "I wish I had known--though doubtless you had company." "The more the merrier," she returned, with her spoon poised critically over the grape fruit. "I shouldn't take the rest to be early risers," he reflected, running his eyes around the table. "Come, tell me--didn't you go alone?" "Which would be tantamount to saying that the others are not early risers." "Would they object?" "No--I don't imagine they would--Did you walk this morning?" "I wasn't an early riser, either!" he smiled. "You see, I didn't know you had the habit." He saw that she had avoided his question--doubtless Pendleton had been with her. As a matter of fact, she had walked alone. "We shall have to try it some other Sunday morning," he suggested. "Is your walking confined to Sunday mornings?" she asked. "My visiting at country houses is confined to week-ends--more's the pity." "Don't you ever take a vacation--a long vacation, that is?" "I've never found time." "You've been abroad?" she asked. "On business--never for pleasure--and I come home the minute the business is finished, sometimes before." "Don't you expect ever to take a vacation?" she inquired. "Certainly--when I get the opportunity." "You mean when you're dead." "Possibly!" he laughed. "You ought to have enough. You could stop this instant and be the wealthiest in the State--one of the very wealthiest in the Nation." "What are a few millions!" he minimized. "A few! Do you call thirty _few_?" "Who said I am worth thirty millions?" he asked.