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"What is so wrong with Mr Siward?" she asked

"Nothing There was an affair--"

"This spring in town I know it Is that all?"

"Yes--for the present," replied Grace Ferrall uncooodness' sake, Sylvia, don't cross exareat deal for that boy--"

"So do I I've "

There was an abrupt pause, and presently Mrs Ferrall began to laugh

"I mean it--really," said Sylvia quietly; "I like hienerously--with your usual exaggeration You have heard that he has been foolish, and because he's so young, so likable, every instinct, every impulse in you is aroused to--to be nice to him--"

"And if that were--"

"There is no har to a graver revery Then looking up: "It's rather pathetic," she said in a low voice "Kemp thinks he's foredoo with hieneration after generation you know--" She bit her lip, thinking a rand-parents, brilliant, handso in a dreadful resort in London where he had wandered when stupefied--a Siward! Think of it! So you see what that outbreak of Stephen's means to those whose families have been New Yorkers since New York was It is ominous, it is more than ominous--it means that the master-vice has seized on one more Siward But I shall never, never adirl sat wide-eyed, silent; the elder's gaze was upon her, but her thoughts, remote, centred on the hapless ence was once fashionable; moderation is the present fashion Perhaps he will fall into line," said Mrs Ferrall thoughtfully "The regarious , any incident, happens to drive him outside by himself, if he should become solitary, there's not a chance in the world for him … It's a pity I know he meant to make himself the exception to the rule--and look! Already one carouse of his has landed him in the daily papers!"

Sylvia flushed and looked up: "Grace, may I ask you a plain question?"

"Yes, child," she answered absently

"Has it occurred to you that what you have said about this boy touches me very closely?"

Mrs Ferrall's wits returned nilance at the girl beside her

"You--you mean the matter of heredity, Sylvia?"