re must have been
something that did not come out."

"Thank you," Blake said quietly.

She gave him a searching glance. "Can't you say something for
yourself?"

"I think not," he answered. "The least said, the soonest mended."

"But for the sake of others."

"So far as I know, only one person was much troubled about my disgrace.
I'm thankful my father died before it came."

"Your uncle felt it very keenly. He was furious when the first news
arrived and refused to believe you were to blame. Then when Major
Allardyce wrote he scarcely spoke for the rest of the day and it was a
long time before he recovered from the blow; I was staying at
Sandymere. He loved you, Dick, and I imagined he expected you to do
even better than his son."

Blake mused for a few moments, and Mrs. Keith could not read his
thoughts. Then he said, "Bertram is a very good fellow and has brains.
Why should his people think less of him because he likes to paint? But
I've been sorry for the Colonel; more sorry than I've felt for myself."

There was a softness that appealed to Mrs. Keith in his dark-blue eyes.
She had been fond of Dick Blake in his younger days and firmly believed
in him. Now she could not credit his being guilty of cowardice.

"Well," she said, "you have, I trust, a long life before you, and if
you have been at fault, you must make amends. There are people who
would be glad to see you reinstated."

He made a sign of grave dissent. "That can't happen, in the way you
mean. I closed the door of the old life against my return with my own
hands, and you don't gain distinction, as the Challoners think of it,
in business."

"What business have you gone into?"

Blake's eyes gleamed humorously. "At present I'm in the paint line."

"Paint!" Mrs. Keith exclaimed.

"Yes, but not common paint. We use the highest grade of lead and the
purest linseed oil. Varnish also of unapproachable quality, guaranteed
to stand exposure to any climate. There's nothing to equal our
products in North America."

"Do you seriously mean that you are going about selling these things?"

"Well," said Blake drily, "I'm trying to do so, and I booked an order
for two kegs yesterday, but it isn't to be paid for until arrival, when
I shall not be here. Can't I induce you to give us a trial? Your
house must need painting now and then, and we'll ship you the stuff to
Liverpool in air-tight drums. Once you have tried it you'll use
nothing else