nd our father before us. There, in the dim light, I
halted and turned, while Evans approached from the inner rooms, rubbing
eyes heavy with sleep.

Good old Evans! Yet the faithfulness of such a servant has its
disadvantages.

"Well?" said Harry in a thin, high voice.

The boy's nerves were stretched tightly; two words from me would have
produced an explosion. So I clapped him on the shoulder and sent him
off to bed. He went sulkily, without looking round, and his shoulders
drooped like those of an old man; but I reflected that that would all
be changed after a few hours of sleep.

"After all, he is a Lamar," I said to myself as I ordered Evans to
bring wine and sandwiches to the library.

It was the middle of the following afternoon before Harry appeared
down-stairs. He had slept eleven hours. I was seated in the library
when I heard his voice in the hall:

"Breakfast! Breakfast for five at once!"

I smiled. That was Harry's style of wit.

After he had eaten his "breakfast for five" he came in to see me with
the air of a man who was determined to have it out.

I myself was in no mood for talk; indeed, I scarcely ever am in such a
mood, unless it be with a pretty woman or a great sinner. You may
regard that sentence as tautological if you like; I sha'n't quarrel
about it.

What I mean to say is that it was with a real effort I set myself to
the distasteful task before me, rendered necessary by the
responsibility of my position as elder brother and head of the family.

Harry began by observing with assumed indifference: "Well, and now
there's the deuce to pay, I suppose."

"As his representative I am not a hard creditor," I smiled.

"I know, I know--" he began impetuously and stopped.

I continued:

"My boy, there is always the deuce to pay. If not for one thing, then
for another. So your observation would serve for any other time as
well as now. The point is this: you are ten years younger than I, and
you are under my care; and much as I dislike to talk, we must reach an
understanding."

"Well?" said Harry, lighting a cigarette and seating himself on the arm
of a chair.

"You have often thought," I continued, "that I have been trying to
interfere with your freedom. But you are mistaken; I have merely been
trying to preserve it--and I have succeeded."

"When our father and mother died you were fifteen years of age. You
are now twenty-two; and I take some credit for the fact that thos