"Ah! Fortunate man. Scotchman?"
"No; an American."
"Oh!--You have known him a long time?"
"Since I was a little girl."
"Oh!--What is he?"
"A gentleman."
"Yes." The Englishman took the trouble again to put up his monocle and take a fleeting glance across the table. "He looks it," he said. "I mean, what does he do? Is he a capitalist like--like our host? Or is he just getting to be a capitalist?"
"I hope he is," replied Mrs. Lancaster, with a twinkle in her eyes that showed she enjoyed the Englishman's mystification. "He is engaged in mining."
She gave a rosy picture of the wealth in the region from which Keith came.
"All your men do something, I believe?" said the gentleman.