over him like a summer
storm, and the clear blue of his glance was as winning as ever. "I've
been looking into the matter of that appointment Judge Page asked me
about," he added, "and I think I may see my way to oblige him."

"If you are free for half an hour I'd like to have the talk we spoke of
the other day," answered Stephen.

"Oh, I'm free except for Darrow. You won't mind Darrow."

He turned toward the library on the left of the hall; and as Stephen
entered the room, after a gay and friendly smile in Patty's direction,
he told himself that the man promised to be more interesting than any
girl he had ever known.

CHAPTER XI

THE OLD WALLS AND THE RISING TIDE

A tall old man was standing by the window in the library, and as he
turned his face away from the light of the sunset, Stephen had a vague
impression that he had seen him before--not in actual life but in some
half-forgotten picture or statue. The Governor's visitor was evidently a
carpenter, with a tall erect figure and a face which had in it a dignity
that belonged less to an individual than to an era. Beneath his abundant
white hair, his large brown eyes still shone with the ardour of a
convert or a disciple, and his blanched, strongly marked features had
the aristocratic distinction and serenity that are found in the faces of
the old who have lived in communion either with profound ideas or with
the simple elemental forces of sky and sea. In spite of his gnarled
hands and the sawdust that had lodged in the frayed creases of his
clothes, he was in his way, Stephen realized, as great a gentleman and
as typical a Virginian as Judge Horatio Lancaster Page. Both men were
the descendants of a privileged order; both were inheritors of a formal
and authentic tradition.

"This is Mr. Darrow," said Vetch in a voice which contained a note of
affectionate deference. "I think he knew your father, Culpeper. Didn't
you tell me, Darrow, that you had known this young man's father?"

"No, sir, I only said I'd worked for him," replied Darrow, with an air
of genial irony which brought the Judge to Stephen's mind again. "That's
a big difference, I reckon. I did some repairs a few years ago on a row
of houses that belonged to Mr. Culpeper; but the business was all
arranged by the agent."

"That was part of the estate, I suppose," explained Stephen. "My father
leaves all that to his agent."

"Yes, I thought as much," replied Darrow simply; and after shaking