with a box of promising-looking cigars.

"'I don't think he knows what is good for him,' she said. 'He should
smoke only one every day.'

"It was hard to bear. I am not vindictive, but I decided to treasure
up a few of Miss Holroyd's gentle taunts. My intimacy with her brother
was certainly a disadvantage to me now. Jack had apparently been
talking too much, and his sister appeared to be thoroughly acquainted
with my past. It was a disadvantage. I remembered her vaguely as a
girl with long braids, who used to come on Sundays with her father and
take tea with us in our rooms. Then she went to Germany to school, and
Jack and I employed our Sunday evenings otherwise. It is true that I
regarded her weekly visits as a species of infliction, but I did not
think I ever showed it.

"'It is strange,' said I, 'that you did not recognize me at once, Miss
Holroyd. Have I changed so greatly in five years?'

"'You wore a pointed French beard in Paris,' she said--'a very downy
one. And you never stayed to tea but twice, and then you only spoke
once.'

"'Oh!' said I, blankly. 'What did I say?'

"'You asked me if I liked plums,' said Daisy, bursting into an
irresistible ripple of laughter.

"I saw that I must have made the same sort of an ass of myself that
most boys of eighteen do.

"It was too bad. I never thought about the future in those days. Who
could have imagined that little Daisy Holroyd would have grown up into
this bewildering young lady? It was really too bad. Presently the
professor retired to his room, carrying with him an armful of
drawings, and bidding us not to sit up late. When he closed his door
Miss Holroyd turned to me.

"'Papa will work over those drawings until midnight,' she said, with a
despairing smile.

"'It isn't good for him,' I said. 'What are the drawings?'

"'You may know to-morrow,' she answered, leaning forward on the table
and shading her face with one hand. 'Tell me about yourself and Jack
in Paris.'

"I looked at her suspiciously.

"'What! There isn't much to tell. We studied. Jack went to the law
school, and I attended--er--oh, all sorts of schools.'

"'Did you? Surely you gave yourself a little recreation occasionally?'

"'Occasionally,' I nodded.

"'I am afraid you and Jack studied too hard.'

"'That may be,' said I, looking meek.

"'Especially about fossils.'

"I couldn't stand that.

"'Miss Holroyd,' I said, 'I do care for fossils. You may think that I
am a humbug, bu