--Your grateful and affectionate nephew,
"HOWARD KENNEDY."
The old house had a welcoming air as he passed through it that
morning; it seemed to hold him in its patient embrace, to ask for
love. He spent the morning with Jack, but in a curiously distracted
mood.
"What has happened to you?" said Jack at the end of the morning.
"You have not been thinking about what you are doing. You seem like
a man who has been stroking a winning crew. Has the Master been
made a Dean, and have you been elected Master? They say you have a
chance."
Howard laughed and said, "You are very sharp, Jack! I have NOT been
attending. Something very unexpected has happened. I mustn't tell
you now, but you will soon know. I have drawn a prize. Now don't
pump me!"
"Here's another prize!" said Jack. "You are to lunch with us to-
morrow, and to discuss my future career. There's glory for you! I
am not to be present, and father is scheming to get me invited to
luncheon here. If he fails, I am to take out some sandwiches and to
eat them in the kitchen garden. Maud is to be present, and
'CONFER,' he says, 'though without a vote'!"
Howard met Mrs. Graves in the drawing-room; she kissed him, and
holding his hand for a moment said, "Thank you for your note, my
dear boy. That's all settled, then! Well, it's a great joy to me,
and I get more than I give by the bargain. It's a shameless bribe,
to secure the company of a charming nephew for a sociable old
woman.
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