erved it, my dear," said the colonel, mildly.

"Everyone else does. He thought himself on a level with our Godfrey."

"He is Godfrey's superior in some respects."

"Oh, well, if you are going to exalt him above your own flesh and
blood, I won't stay and listen to you."

"You disturb yourself unnecessarily, my dear. I have no intention of
adopting him in place of my son. But he has done me a great service
this after-noon, and displayed a coolness and courage very unusual in
a boy of his age. But for him, I should be eight hundred dollars
poorer."

"Oh, well, you can give him fifty cents, and he will be well paid for
his services, as you call them."

"Fifty cents!" repeated her husband.

"Well, a dollar, if you like."

"I have given him a hundred dollars."

"A hundred dollars!" almost screamed Mrs. Preston, who was a very mean
woman. "Are you insane?"

"Not that I am aware of, my dear."

"It is perfectly preposterous to give such a sum to such a boy."

"I ought to say that I gave it to him for his mother. He was not
willing to accept it for himself."

"That's a likely story," said Mrs. Preston, incredulously. "He only
wants to make a favorable impression upon you--perhaps to get more out
of you."

"You misjudge him, my dear."

"I know he is an artful, intriguing young rascal. You give him a
hundred dollars, yet you refused to give Godfrey ten dollars last
week."

"For a very good reason. He has a liberal allowance, and must keep
within it. He did not need the money he asked for."

"Yet you lavish a hundred dollars on this boy."

"I felt justified in doing so. Which was better, to give him that sum,
or to lose eight hundred?"

"I don't like the boy, and I never shall. I suppose he will be
strutting around, boasting of his great achievement. If he had a gun
it was nothing to do."

"I suspect Godfrey would hardly have ventured upon it," said the
colonel, smiling.

"Oh, of course, Godfrey is vastly inferior to the Irish boy!" remarked
Mrs. Preston, ironically. "You admire the family so much that I
suppose if I were taken away, you would marry his mother and establish
her in my place."

"If you have any such apprehensions, my dear, your best course is to
outlive her. That will effectually prevent my marrying her, and I
pledge you my word that, while you are alive, I shall not think of
eloping with her."

"It is very well to jest about it," said Mrs. Preston, tossing her
head.

"I am precisely