ugh to let them get away with it. I'm
somewhat surprised. Daney knew your wishes in the matter; if he had
forgotten them, he might have remembered mine, and if he had forgotten
both, it would have been the decent thing to have thrown them out on
his own responsibility."

So that was what lay at the bottom of his son's perturbation! The
Laird was relieved.

"Andrew's a good man, but he always needed a leader, Donald," he
replied. "If he didn't lack initiative, he would have been his own man
long ago. I hope you did not chide him for it, lad."

"No; I did not. He's old enough to be my father, and, besides, he's
been in the Tyee Lumber Company longer than I. I did itch to give him
a rawhiding, though."

"I saw smoke and excitement down at the Sawdust Pile this morning,
Donald. I dare say you rectified Andrew's negligence."

"I did. The Sawdust Pile is as clean as a hound's tooth."

Jane looked up from her plate.

"I hope you sent that shameless Brent girl away, too," she announced,
with the calm attitude of one whose own virtue is above reproach.

Donald glared at her.

"Of course I did not!" he retorted. "How thoroughly unkind and
uncharitable of you, Jane, to hope I would be guilty of such a cruel
and unmanly action!"

The Laird waved his carving-knife.

"Hear, hear!" he chuckled. "Spoken like a man, my son. Jane, my dear,
if I were you, I wouldn't press this matter further. It's a delicate
subject."

"I'm sure I do not see why Jane should not be free to express her
opinion, Hector." Mrs. McKaye felt impelled to fly to the defense of
her daughter. "You know as well as we do, Hector, that the Brent girl
is quite outside the pale of respectable society."

"We shall never agree on what constitutes 'respectable society,'
Nellie," The Laird answered whimsically. "There are a few in that
Seattle set of yours I find it hard to include in that category."

"Oh, they're quite respectable, father," Donald protested.

"Indeed they are, Donald! Hector, you amaze me," Mrs. McKaye chided.

"They have too much money to be anything else," Donald added, and
winked at his father.

"Tush, tush, lad!" the old man murmured. "We shall get nowhere with
such arguments. The world has been at that line of conversation for
two thousand years, and the issue's still in doubt. Nellie, will you
have a piece of the well-done?"

"You and your father are never done joining forces against me," Mrs.
McKaye protested, and in her voice