"Oh, did you? Then I can save you the trouble, because I'm not going to."
The declaration was so definite that it left Thor with nothing to say. "Poor old Fay has worked pretty hard, hasn't he?" he ventured at last.
"Possibly. So have I."
"But with the difference that you've been prosperous, and he hasn't."
Masterman laughed good-naturedly. "Which is the difference between me and a good many other people. You don't blame me for that?"
"It's not a question of blaming any one, father. I only supposed that among Americans it was the correct thing for the lucky ones to come to the aid of the less fortunate."
"Take it that I'm doing that for Fay when I get him out of an impossible situation."
Thor smiled ruefully. "When you get him out of the frying-pan into the fire?"
"Well," Claude challenged, coming to his father's aid, "the fire's no worse than the frying-pan, and may be a little better."
"I've seen the girl," Mrs. Masterman contributed to the discussion. "She's been in the greenhouse when I've gone to buy flowers. I must say she didn't strike me very favorably." The two brothers exchanged glances without knowing why. "She seemed to me so much—so very much—above her station."