little broken-down wife at
the same time; but as to what is really a gentleman depends on the
attitude of mind.

NINE.

THE KNIGHT HAS A STOLEN VIEW OF THE LADY.

Grandma Clay kept me in bed that day, so I forgot all about my
appointment on the river until some time after three, when Andrew
announced from the doorway--

"A man wants to know can he see you?"

"Who can he be?"

"He's a puddin'-faced, red-headed bloke, wearin' a blue sweater under
his coat like the bike riders," was Andrew's very unknightly
description of the knight whom I had chosen to play lead in the drama
of the beautiful young lady at Clay's.

"That's a particular friend of mine, you may show him in," I said.

"Oughtn't Dawn to be woke up first and told to scoot out of that?"
said he.

Dawn was one of those young beings so thoroughly inured to easy living
that the few hours' sleep she had lost the night before had made her
so dozy when she had come to keep me company now, that I had persuaded
her to rest beside me on the broad bed, where, much against Andrew's
sense of propriety, she was fast asleep.

"I'll hide her thus," I said, covering her with the counterpane, for
it would not be good stage management to allow the lady to escape
when a fitting knight was on the threshold. This satisfied Andrew, who
withdrew to usher in the "puddin'-faced, red-headed bloke," who sat in
the doctor's chair, and made a few ordinary remarks about the weather
and some equally kind about my state of health.

When in the company of ladies the only brilliance in evidence about my
young friend was the colour of his hair, so there was little danger of
his waking Dawn with his chatter, as he sat inwardly consumed with a
desire to escape. As I lay with my hand where I could feel the girl's
healthy breathing, I wondered would she too dismiss my chosen knight
as pudding-faced and red-headed, or would she see him with my eyes!
His locks certainly were of that most attractive shade hair can be,
and his good looks were further enhanced by a clear tanned skin and
dark eyes. His large clean-shaven features had the fulness and
roundness of unspent youth in full bloom, and he was far from the
small bullet-headed type, which accounted for Andrew's designation of
"puddin'-faced." I had always found him one of the most virile and
upright young creatures I had ever seen, and he had endeared himself
to me by his simple, untainted manliness, and the fragrant evidence