England child with the greatest wonder and delight. Most of
all did he admire the calm absolutism of Lanse's will, combined as it
was with good-nature, manliness, and even to a certain degree, or rather
in a certain way, with generosity--generosity as he had thought it then,
careless liberality as he knew it now. When Evert was ten and Lanse
fifteen, Lanse had decided that his cousin must learn to shoot, that he
was quite old enough for that accomplishment. Evert recalled the mixture
of fear and pride which had filled his small heart to suffocation when
Lanse put the gun into his hands in the remote field behind Mrs.
Rutherford's country-house which he had selected for the important
lesson. His fear was not occasioned so much by the gun as by the keen
realization that if his father should question him, upon his return
home, he should certainly feel himself obliged to tell of his new
knowledge, and the revelation might put an end to these happy visits.
Fortunately his father did not question him; he seldom spoke to the boy
of anything that had happened during these absences, which he seemed to
consider necessary evils--so much waste time. On this occasion how kind
Lanse had been, how he had encouraged and helped him--yes, and scolded
him a little too; and how he had comforted him when the force of the
discharge had knocked the little sportsman over on the ground rather
heavily. A strong affection for Lanse had grown up with the younger boy;
and it remained with him still, though now not so blind a liking; he
knew Lanse better. They had been widely separated, and for a long time;
they had led such different lives! Evert had worked steadily for ten
long, secluded years; later he had worked still harder, but in another
way, being now his own master, and engaged in guiding the enterprises he
had undertaken through many obstacles and hazards towards success. These
years of unbroken toil for Evert had been spent by Lanse in his own
amusement, though one could not say spent in idleness exactly, as he
was one of the most active of men. He had been much of the time in
Europe. But he came home for brief visits now and then, when his aunt
besought him; she adored him--she had always adored him; she was never
tired of admiring his proportions, what seemed to her his good-nature,
his Harold wit, his poise of head; she was never so happy as when she
had him staying with her in her own house. True, he had his own way of
living; but it wa