September--or October. We'll see what can be done." He rubbed his hands
cheerfully. "We'll see what can be done about it then, Georgie. We'll
see."

And George, in reporting this conversation to his mother, was ruefully
humorous. "In fact, the old boy cheered up so much," he told her, "you'd
have thought he'd got a real load off his mind. He seemed to think he'd
fixed me up perfectly, and that I was just as good as driving a tandem
around his library right that minute! Of course I know he's anything but
miserly; still I can't help thinking he must be salting a lot of money
away. I know prices are higher than they used to be, but he doesn't
spend within thousands of what he used to, and we certainly can't be
spending more than we always have spent. Where does it all go to? Uncle
George told me grandfather had sold some pieces of property, and it
looks a little queer. If he's really 'property poor,' of course we ought
to be more saving than we are, and help him out. I don't mind giving
up a tandem if it seems a little too expensive just now. I'm perfectly
willing to live quietly till he gets his bank balance where he wants it.
But I have a faint suspicion, not that he's getting miserly--not that at
all--but that old age has begun to make him timid about money. There's
no doubt about it, he's getting a little queer: he can't keep his mind
on a subject long. Right in the middle of talking about one thing he'll
wander off to something else; and I shouldn't be surprised if he turned
out to be a lot better off than any of us guess. It's entirely possible
that whatever he's sold just went into government bonds, or even his
safety deposit box. There was a friend of mine in college had an old
uncle like that: made the whole family think he was poor as dirt--and
then left seven millions. People get terribly queer as they get old,
sometimes, and grandfather certainly doesn't act the way he used to. He
seems to be a totally different man. For instance, he said he thought
tandem driving might be dangerous--"

"Did he?" Isabel asked quickly. "Then I'm glad he doesn't want you to
have one. I didn't dream--"

"But it's not. There isn't the slightest--"

Isabel had a bright idea. "Georgie! Instead of a tandem wouldn't it
interest you to get one of Eugene's automobiles?"

"I don't think so. They're fast enough, of course. In fact, running
one of those things is getting to be quite on the cards for sport, and
people go all over the