nd march down in this neighborhood once
in a while, and I cal'late I'm prettier leadin' it than I would be doin'
a solitaire jig for two years on the outside edge of New York's best
circles. And I'm mighty sure I'm more welcome. Now my eyesight's strong
enough to see through a two-foot hole after the plug's out, and I can
see that you and 'Bije's children won't shed tears if I say no to that
will. No offense meant, you know; just common sense, that's all."

This was plain speaking. Mr. Graves colored, though he didn't mean to,
and for once could not answer offhand.

"So," continued the captain, "I'll ease your and their minds by sayin'
that, the way I feel now, I probably sha'n't accept the trust. I
_probably_ sha'n't. But I won't say sure I won't, because--well, because
'Bije was my brother; he was that, no matter what our diff'rences may
have been. And I know--I _know_ that there must be some reason bigger
than 'implicit trust' and the other May-baskets for his appointin' me in
his will. What that reason is I _don't_ know--yet."

"Then you intend--?"

"I don't know what I intend--in the end. But for a beginnin', I cal'late
to run down to New York some time durin' the next week, take a cruise
'round, and sort of look things over."

CHAPTER III

"It's a box of a place, though, isn't it," declared Mr. Stephen Warren,
contemptuously glancing about the library of the apartment. "A box, by
George! I think it's a blooming shame that we have to put up with it,
Sis."

Mr. Warren sprawled in the most comfortable chair in the room, was
looking out through the window, across the wind-swept width of Central
Park West, over the knolls and valleys of the Park itself, now bare of
foliage and sprinkled with patches of snow. There was a discontented
look on his face, and his hands were jammed deep in his trousers
pockets.

His sister, Caroline, sat opposite to him, also looking out at the
December landscape. She, too, was discontented and unhappy, though she
tried not to show it.

"Why don't you say something," snapped Stephen, after a moment of
silence. "_Isn't_ it a box of a place? Now come."

"Yes," replied the young lady, without looking at her brother. "Yes,
Steve, I suppose it is. But you must remember that we must make the
best of it. I always wondered how people could live in apartments. Now I
suppose I shall have to find out."

"Well, I maintain that we don't have to. We aren't paupers, even though
fathe