considered Doctor Richard Geddes undiplomatic in his
behavior. It never once occurred to that lordly gentleman, who had
had his own way ever since he was born, that he should stop now to
consider the feelings or the prejudices of Hyndsville. It wasn't
that he meant to champion _us_. It never occurred to him that we
needed championing. He simply liked us because he liked us. We
pleased him. That sufficed, so far as he was concerned.

I had begun really to like the doctor, myself. But I wished to
heaven he weren't, at that critical time, so tactless. For instance,
I have been peremptorily taken by an elbow and led willy-nilly to
his waiting car, on Lafayette Street, which is our principal
thoroughfare, under the calm, appraising, watching eyes of all
feminine Hyndsville. Not one of whom would fail to remark, casually:

"Oh, _did_ you see that Miss Smith with Doctor Geddes this morning?
Men are so unsuspicious, aren't they!"

I couldn't explain the situation to him, of course, any more than I
could explain to Mr. Nicholas Jelnik that _his_ presence in Hynds
House, while pleasing to us, was disquieting and displeasing to
others.

It was to be expected that this handsome young man, who kept his
affairs so strictly to himself that nobody knew anything about them,
should arouse the avid curiosity and hold the breathless interest of
a little town where everybody had always known everybody else's
business.

Why had he come to Hyndsville? To find the Hynds jewels, after a
century? Didn't he know that the Scarlett Witch had the eye of an
eagle for the glitter of gold and would long since have discovered
whatever of value had been in Hynds House? Why didn't he consult
older members of the community, who could furnish him with
immensely interesting side-lights on the Hyndses?

Mr. Jelnik never explained. He didn't ask anybody anything. He
didn't even employ Hyndsville negroes, who could be expected to
gossip: his household consisted of a stately bronze-colored
man-servant who was reputed to be a pagan, and the huge wolf-hound,
Boris, his constant companion.

When Doctor Geddes was delicately sounded, the big man explained
that he himself had but recently made the acquaintance of his young
kinsman; Jelnik was a first-rate chap, declared the doctor;
immensely clever, as befitted his father's son; altogether likeable,
but a bit of a lunatic, like all the Hyndses.

It was natural, too, that the young ladies in a small town wh