," she said cosily, "tell me all about my father."

"He"--stammered Dick, "he is a very agreeable companion."

"I shall begin to think it is more than you are, Mr. Naseby," she said,
with a laugh. "I am his daughter, you forget. Begin at the beginning,
and tell me all you have seen of him, all he said and all you answered.
You must have met somewhere; begin with that."

So with that he began: how he had found the Admiral painting in a cafe;
how his art so possessed him that he could not wait till he got home
to--well, to dash off his idea; how (this in reply to a question) his
idea consisted of a cock crowing and two hens eating corn; how he was
fond of cocks and hens; how this did not lead him to neglect more
ambitious forms of art; how he had a picture in his studio of a Greek
subject which was said to be remarkable from several points of view; how
no one had seen it nor knew the precise site of the studio in which it
was being vigorously though secretly confected; how (in answer to a
suggestion) this shyness was common to the Admiral, Michelangelo, and
others; how they (Dick and Van Tromp) had struck up an acquaintance at
once, and dined together that same night; how he (the Admiral) had once
given money to a beggar; how he spoke with effusion of his little
daughter; how he had once borrowed money to send her a doll--a trait
worthy of Newton, she being then in her nineteenth year at least; how,
if the doll never arrived (which it appeared it never did), the trait
was only more characteristic of the highest order of creative intellect;
how he was--no, not beautiful--striking, yes, Dick would go so far,
decidedly striking in appearance; how his boots were made to lace and
his coat was black, not cut-away, a frock; and so on, and so on by the
yard. It was astonishing how few lies were necessary. After all, people
exaggerated the difficulty of life. A little steering, just a touch of
the rudder now and then, and with a willing listener there is no limit
to the domain of equivocal speech. Sometimes Miss M'Glashan made a
freezing sojourn in the parlour; and then the task seemed unaccountably
more difficult; but to Esther, who was all eyes and ears, her face
alight with interest, his stream of language flowed without break or
stumble, and his mind was ever fertile in ingenious evasions and--

What an afternoon it was for Esther!

"Ah!" she said at last, "it's good to hear all this! My aunt, you should
know, is narrow an