they were the most intimate. But
Robert's wife was given to gaiety and dinner-parties and had been seen
even at balls. And Robert himself was much oftener at the Grange than
either of the other brothers. He managed his father's private affairs,
and was, perhaps, of all his sons the best liked by the father. He was
prosperous in his business and was reported to be the leading lawyer in
the town. In the old Cambridge days he had entertained John Caldigate at
his house; and though they had not met since the miner's return from
Australia, each at once knew the other, and their greeting was friendly
'Where's Hess?' said Robert, asking at once after his sister.

'She is engaged, Robert,' said Mrs. Bolton, very seriously, and very
firmly.

'She gave me a commission about some silk, and Margaret says that it
can't be executed in Cambridge. She must write to Fanny.' Margaret was
Mrs. Robert Bolton, and Fanny was the wife of the barrister brother who
lived in London.

'I will tell her, Robert.'

'All the same I should have liked to have seen her.'

'She is engaged, Robert.' This was said almost more seriously and more
firmly than before.

'Well, Caldigate,' said the attorney, turning to the visitor, 'so you
are the one man who has not only gone to the gold country and found
gold, but has brought his gold home with him.'

'I have brought a little home;--but I hope others have done so before.'

'I have never heard of any. You seem to have been uncommonly lucky. Hard
work, wasn't it?'

'Hard enough at first.'

'And a good deal of chance?'

'If a man will work steadily, and has backbone enough to stand up
against reverses without consoling himself with drink; and if, when the
gold comes, he can refrain from throwing it about as though it were
endless, I think a man may be tolerably sure to earn something.' Then he
told the story of the horse with the golden shoes.

'Shoes of gold upon a horse!' said Mrs. Bolton, holding up both her
hands. The man who could even tell such a story must be an adventurer.
But, nevertheless the story had interested her so that she had been
enticed into taking some part in the conversation.

When Caldigate got up to take his leave, Robert Bolton offered to walk
back to the town with him. He had expected to find his father, but
would now look for him at the bank. They started together; and as they
went Caldigate told his story to the young lady's half-brother. It
occurred to him that of all