was not numerous, and if Ann had gone out, as was her wont
when she found a moment's leisure, there was no one to answer the bell
but myself. I rose heavily and unwillingly, and walked along the little
hall, my eyes still glued upon the page, hardly raising them when I
opened, the door until I saw, instead of some indifferent neighbor, a
tall gentleman, quite strange to Belfield, who was shutting his dripping
umbrella. He was very tall, stately, broad-shouldered, with an impassive
but handsome face, and a glance at once quiet and commanding. He
regarded me with an amused smile, as if he knew me very well, and
something about him gradually renewed a sort of recollection in me.

"How do you do?" he asked as I stood squarely in the doorway staring at
him.

"I am quite well, sir," I returned gravely.

"What is your name?" he inquired, laughing.

"James Floyd Randolph," I answered.

"I am James Floyd," said he. "Suppose you invite me in?"

I led the way silently back to the dull, chilly sitting-room, where Jack
and Harry still sat at the table, while Georgy was peeping out to catch
a glimpse of the new arrival. Mr. Floyd, having put his umbrella in the
rack and taken off his hat and overcoat, followed me, casting a look
about the room as he entered, as if he missed somebody he expected to
see.

"My mother is not at home, sir," I observed, sitting down stiffly on the
edge of a chair: "she has gone to spend the afternoon with a sick lady."

"She will return presently?"

"Oh, she will certainly be at home to tea, sir," I answered; and then,
remarking that he gave a shrug as he glanced at the wide-open casements,
I closed both windows, went to the closet, brought wood and kindlings
and built a fire on the hearth.

"You are a boy of much nice discrimination," remarked Mr. Floyd. "Now
that you have a temperature not altogether conducive to lumbago, I will
venture to sit down. Do you know who I am?"

"Oh yes, sir: you are Mr. James Floyd, the gentleman I was named after."

"Has your mother often spoken of me?"

"Oh yes, sir," I said again, and at once observed that his face
brightened up.

"And who are these young people?" he inquired, apparently noticing the
group by the table for the first time.

I introduced them, and Mr. Floyd shook hands with Jack, put his hand
under Harry's chin and looked keenly into his chiselled, beautiful face;
then gave another glance at Georgy, to whom he had first bowed.

"Miss Len