er,
and recommended me not to write again. It isn't like Catherine to bear
malice."

"Don't even think such a thing possible!" the lawyer answered,
earnestly. "Attribute her silence to the right cause. Terrible anxieties
have been weighing on her mind since you went to America."

"Anxieties caused by my brother? Oh, I hope not!"

"Caused entirely by your brother--if I must tell the truth. Can't you
guess how?"

"Is it the child? You don't mean to tell me that Herbert has taken Kitty
away from her mother!"

"While I am her mother's lawyer, my friend, your brother won't do that.
Welcome back to England in the first glass of sherry; good wine, but a
little too dry for my taste. No, we won't talk of domestic troubles
just yet. You shall hear all about it after dinner. What made you go to
America? You haven't been delivering lectures, have you?"

"I have been enjoying myself among the most hospitable people in the
world."

Mr. Sarrazin shook his head; he had a case of copyright in hand just
then. "A people to be pitied," he said.

"Why?"

"Because their Government forgets what is due to the honor of the
nation."

"How?"

"In this way. The honor of a nation which confers right of property
in works of art, produced by its own citizens, is surely concerned in
protecting from theft works of art produced by other citizens."

"That's not the fault of the people."

"Certainly not. I have already said it's the fault of the Government.
Let's attend to the fish now."

Randal took his friend's advice. "Good sauce, isn't it?" he said.

The epicure entered a protest. "Good?" he repeated. "My dear fellow,
it's absolute perfection. I don't like to cast a slur on English
cookery. But think of melted butter, and tell me if anybody but a
foreigner (I don't like foreigners, but I give them their due) could
have produced this white wine sauce? So you really had no particular
motive in going to America?"

"On the contrary, I had a very particular motive. Just remember what
my life used to be when I was in Scotland--and look at my life now!
No Mount Morven; no model farm to look after; no pleasant Highland
neighbors; I can't go to my brother while he is leading his present
life; I have hurt Catherine's feelings; I have lost dear little Kitty;
I am not obliged to earn my living (more's the pity); I don't care
about politics; I have a pleasure in eating harmless creatures, but no
pleasure in shooting them. What is there left