ainted with my new
surroundings. The chief business of the farm was horse raising, and the
Colonel kept a well stocked stable. A riding horse was put at my
disposal, and in company with Radnor I explored the greater part of the
valley.

We visited at a number of houses in the neighborhood, but there was one
in particular where we stopped most frequently, and it did not take me
long to discover the reason. "Mathers Hall", an ivy-covered rambling
structure, red brick with white trimmings--in style half colonial, half
old English--was situated a mile or so from Four-Pools. The Hall had
sheltered three generations of Matherses, and the fourth generation was
growing up. There was a huge family, mostly girls, who had married and
moved away to Washington or Richmond or Baltimore. They all came back in
the summer however bringing their babies with them, and the place was
the center of gaiety in the neighborhood. There was just one unmarried
daughter left--Polly, nineteen years old, and the most heartlessly
charming young person it has ever been my misfortune to meet. As is
likely to be the case with the baby of a large family, Polly was
thoroughly spoiled, but that fact did not in the least diminish her
charm.

Report had it, at the time of my arrival, that after refusing every
marriageable man in the county, she was now trying to make up her mind
between Jim Mattison and Radnor. Whether or not these statistics were
exaggerated, I cannot say, but in any case the many other aspirants for
her favor had tacitly dropped out of the running, and the race was
clearly between the two.

It seemed to me, had I been Polly, that it would not take me long to
decide. Rad was as likable a young fellow as one would ever meet; he
came from one of the best families in the county, with the prospect of
inheriting at his father's death a very fair sized fortune. It struck me
that a girl would have to search a good while before discovering an
equally desirable husband. But I was surprised to find that this was not
the general opinion in the neighborhood. Radnor's reputation, I learned
with something of a shock, was far from what it should have been. I was
told with a meaning undertone that he "favored" his brother Jeff. Though
many of the stories were doubtless exaggerated, I learned subsequently
that there was too much truth in some of them. It was openly said that
Polly Mathers would be doing a great deal better if she chose young
Mattison, fo