on
questions about which his mind was irrevocably made up. He took a
certain friendly interest in life as a whole, and would listen with such
patience to an expression of opinion that the expresser of it was often
surprised to find the opinion had had no weight with him, whatsoever.

He stood now, listening with the politest attention to Reed's somewhat
flowery description of the charms of the Revelly house--charms which
Crane himself had examined in the minutest detail.

"Never before," exclaimed the real estate agent, in a magnificent
peroration, "never before has the splendid mansion been rented--"

"Ah," said Crane with a smile, "I believe you there."

"Never been offered for rent," corrected the real estate agent, with a
cough. "Its delightful colonial flavor--"

"Its confounded dilapidation," said the prospective tenant.

"Its boxwood garden, its splendid lawns, its stables, accommodating
twenty-five horses--"

"Yes, if they don't lean up against the sides."

Reed frowned.

"If," he remarked with a touch of pride, "you do not want the house--"

The young man of the motor car laughed good-temperedly.

"I thought we had settled all that last week," he said. "I do want the
house; I do appreciate its beauties; I do not consider it in good
repair, and I continue to think that the price for six weeks is very
high. Have the owners come down?"

Reed frowned again.

"I thought I made it clear, on my part," he answered, "that Mr. and Mrs.
Revelly are beyond the reach of communication. They are on their way to
Madeira. Before they left they set the price on their house, and I can
only follow their instructions. Their children--there are four
children--"

"Good heavens, I don't have to rent them with the house, do I?"
exclaimed the other frivolously.

The real estate agent colored, probably from annoyance.

"No, Mr. Crane," he answered proudly, "you do not, as far as I know,
have to do anything you do not wish to do. What I was about to say was
that the children have no authority to alter the price determined by
their parents. To my mind, however, it is not a question of absolute
value. There is no doubt that you can find newer and more conveniently
appointed houses in the hunting district--certainly cheaper ones, if
price be such an object. But the Revelly family--one of the most
aristocratic families south of Mason and Dixon's, sir--would not be
induced to consider renting under the sum originally named