ave is, and that the one thing to move him
is money; so when Mrs. Jenkin told me he was the only man about, I
told her to say to him he must come at once, for there was money in
the work."

"You were quite right, and if you had promised him a hundred
dollars I would cheerfully have paid it," Mr. Selincourt replied;
and then he turned to talk to 'Duke Radford, who had been sitting
all this time with his head resting on his hand, and taking no
notice at all of what the others were talking about.

But when the tea-things were cleared away, and Katherine had gone
back to the store again, Mr. Selincourt followed her and commenced
talking afresh of what he meant and hoped to make of that
particular part of the world in the course of the next two or three
years. He had a special purpose in coming up river that afternoon,
for he wanted to consult Katherine on a business point, and did not
feel very sure of his ground.

Being a straightforward man in all things, however, he stated
bluntly what he had to say. "I want to buy your land, if I can,
Miss Katherine, and I am prepared to pay you any price in reason
that you like to ask me for it. I understand that your father owns
the river frontage for about a mile on this side of the water,
which is practically from here to the swamps, and it is land that I
should very much like to possess."

"But it is not mine to sell," she said blankly, too much taken by
surprise to know whether she felt pleased or offended by the
suggestion.

"I know it is not. But your father cannot be approached on any
question of buying or selling, so I had to come to you to see how
you felt about it, and I want you to think the matter over," Mr.
Selincourt replied.

"All the thinking in the world cannot alter the position so far as
I am concerned," said Katherine, with a little gesture of
weariness. "Our father is apparently a hopeless invalid, afflicted
more in mind than in body, yet no really qualified doctor has seen
him, to certify his unfitness for managing his own affairs. We,
his children, are all under age, except Nellie. By the way, why
did you not go to her?--she is the eldest. Though, even if you
had, she could only have spoken as I have done."

"I came to you because you stand in your father's place, carrying
on business in his name," Mr. Selincourt said quietly. "And if you
felt that it would be for the good of yourself and the others to
have some easier life than this, it woul