d
considered good investments. The astuteness of this ancestral foresight
was illustrated by the fact that Thor was a richer man than he had
supposed. While he would possess no enormous wealth, according to the
newer standards of the day, he would have something between thirty and
forty thousand dollars of yearly income.

"And that," Mr. Darling explained with pride, "at a very conservative
rate of investment. You could easily have more; but if you take my
advice you'll not be in a hurry to look for more till you need it. I
don't want to hurt any one's feelings. You surely understand that."

Thor was not sure that he did understand it. He was not sure; and yet he
hesitated to ask for the elucidation of what was intended perhaps to
remain cryptic. In a small chair drawn up beside Mr. Darling's revolving
seat of authority, his elbow on his knee, his chin supported by his
fist, he studied the map.

"I don't want to hurt any one's feelings," the lawyer declared again,
"either before or after the fact."

This time an intention of some sort was so evident that Thor felt
obliged to say, "Do you mean any one in particular, sir?"

The trustee threw the map from off his knees, and, rising, walked to the
window. He was a small, neat, sharp-eyed man of fresh, frosty
complexion, his exquisite clothes making him something of a dandy, while
his manner of turning his head, with quick little jerks and perks,
reminded one of a bird. At the window he stood with his hands behind his
back, looking over the jumble of nineteenth-century roofs--out of which
an occasional "skyscraper" shot like a tower--to where a fringe of masts
and funnels edged the bay. He spoke without turning round.

"I don't mean any one in particular unless there should be any one in
particular to mean."

With this oracular explanation Thor was forced to be content, and, as
the purpose of the meeting seemed to have been accomplished, he rose to
take his leave.

Mr. Darling was quick in showing himself not only faithful as a trustee,
but cordial as a man of the world. "My wife would like you to come and
see her," he said, in shaking hands. "She asked me to say, too, that she
hopes you and your brother will come to the dance she's going to give
for Elsie in the course of a month or two. You'll get your cards in
time."

Warmly expressing the pleasure this entertainment would give him, while
knowing in his heart that he wouldn't attend it, the young man took his