Gladys replied
cheerfully. 'I have had a great many blessings; I never go out but I
feel how many. And I have always tried to be contented.'

'Have you never been very angry with me,' he asked unexpectedly.

'No, never; but'--

'But what?'

'Sorry for you often.'

'Why?'

'Because you did not take all the good of life you might.'

'How could I? A poor man can't revel in the good things of life,' he
said, with a slight touch of irritation.

'No, quite true; but some poor people seem to make more out of small
things. That was what I meant,' said Gladys meekly. 'But we must not
talk anything disagreeable, uncle; it is not good for you.'

'But I want to talk. I say, were you disappointed because I never took
you into Ayrshire in the summer?'

'Yes, uncle, a little, but it soon passed. When summer comes again, you
will take me, I am sure.'

'You will go, anyhow, whether I do or not,' he said pointedly. 'Will you
tell me, child, what you think of Walter?'

'Of Walter, uncle?' Gladys paused, with her hand on the cupboard door,
and looked back at him with a slightly puzzled air.

'Yes. Do you think him a clever chap?'

'I do. I think he can do anything, Uncle Abel,' she replied warmly.
'Yes, Walter is very clever.'

'And good?'

'And good. You and I know that there are few like him,' was her
immediate reply.

'And you like him?'

'Of course I do; it would be very strange if I did not,' she replied,
without embarrassment.

'Do you think he would be capable of filling a much higher post than he
has at present?'

'Of course I do; and if you will not be angry, I will say that I have
often thought that you do not pay him enough of money.'

'There's nothing like going through the hards in youth. It won't do him
any harm,' said the old man. 'He won't suffer by it, I promise you
that.'

'Perhaps not; but when he has educated himself,--which won't be long
now, Uncle Abel, he is getting on so fast,--he will not stay here. We
could not expect it.'

'Why not, if there's money in it?'

'_Is_ there money in it?'

A shrewd little smile wreathed her lips, and her whole manner indicated
that her sense of humour was touched.

'There's money in most things if they are attended to,' he said, with
his usual evasiveness; 'and a young, strong man can work up a small
thing into a paying concern if he watches his opportunity.'

'Money is not everything,' Gladys replied, as she began to spread the
cloth, 'but it ca