ne except his helplessness and need. But Richard was as gentle
with him, as patient with his awkward attempts at holding the light rod
in the proper position for fishing, and as full of resources for
entertaining him when the fish--if there were any--failed to bite, as he
could have been with a small brother of his own.

There was another thing which it was impossible not to note: Never had
Roberta seen this young man in circumstances so calculated to impress
upon her the potency of his personality. Unconscious of the scrutiny of
any other human being, wholly absorbed in the task of making a small boy
happy, he was naturally showing her himself precisely as he was. In
place of his usual careful manners when in her presence was entire
freedom from restraint and therefore an effect uncoloured by
conventional environment. The tones of his voice, the frank smile upon
his lips, the touch of his hand upon the little lad's--all these
combined to set him before Roberta in a light so different from any she
had seen him in before that she must needs admit she had been far from
knowing him.

She stole away at length, feeling suddenly that she had seen enough, and
that her defences against the siege being made upon her heart and
judgment were weakening perilously. If she were to hold out before it
she must hear of no more affairs to Richard Kendrick's credit,
especially such affairs as these. Not all his efforts at establishing a
successful career in the world of achievement could touch her
imagination as did the knowledge of his brotherly kindness toward the
unfortunate. That was what meant most to Roberta, in a world which she
had early discovered to be a hard place for the greater part of its
inhabitants. Forgetfulness of self, devotion to the need of
others--these were the qualities she most strove to cultivate in
herself, and most rejoiced at seeing developed in those for whom she
cared.

Unluckily for his cause, if there had been a possible chance for its
success, Forbes Westcott chose the evening of this same day to come
again to Roberta Gray with his question burning on his lips. He arrived
at a moment when, to his temporary satisfaction, Roberta was said to be
playing a set of singles in the court with Ruth by the light of a
fast-fading afterglow; and he took his way thither without delay. It was
a simple matter, of course, to a man of his resource, to dispose of the
young sister, in spite of the elder's attempt to foil