"That is all," replied the story-teller. "Like the good King of Siam, I
consider my already overtaxed subjects." And with this she went into the
house.

"Do either of you suppose," remarked the Master of the House, "that that
Anita woman gave the whole of that great estate to the widow and her two
children? How much land do you think, John Gayther, was enclosed inside
that chicken wire?"

"I have been calculating it in my head," replied the gardener, "and it
must have been over a thousand acres. And for my part, sir, I don't
believe it was all given to the widow. When Mr. Baxter came to attend to
the papers I think he made over the cot and about seven acres of land,
which was quite enough to be attended to by a half-grown boy."

"That is my opinion, too," said the Daughter of the House, "and I think
that the opulent owner of that great estate made a deer-park of the rest
of it, with reindeer, fallow deer, red deer, stags, and all sorts of
deer, and not one of them able to jump over the wire."

"Ah, me!" said the captain, rising and folding his arms as he leaned his
broad back against a pillar of the summer-house, "these great volcanoes
of wealth, always in eruption, always squirting out town houses, country
houses, butlers, chefs, under-chefs, diamonds, lady's-maids, horses,
carriages, seaside gardens, thousand-acre poultry-yards, private
sidewalks, and clouds of money which obscure the sun, daze my eyes and
amaze my soul! John Gayther, I wish you would send me one of your
turnip-hoers; I want him to take my second-best shoes to be mended."

THIS STORY IS TOLD BY

THE MASTER OF THE HOUSE

AND IS CALLED

THE GILDED IDOL AND THE
KING CONCH-SHELL

V

THE GILDED IDOL AND THE KING CONCH-SHELL

The rose-vines were running riot over the old garden wall, and as it
was now midsummer and the season of their full bloom had passed, John
Gayther set to work one morning to prune and train them. The idea of
doing this was forcibly impressed upon his mind that day by the fact
that the Mistress of the House had returned the evening before, and he
knew that she would notice the untidy appearance of the rose-vines as
soon as it should please her to come into the garden. The family had
been at the sea-shore for nearly two weeks, and the gardener had missed
them sorely, especially the Daughter o