His placid face lit up with the smile that always shone there when his son appeared.
"Well, what's the news?" he asked. "I know it must be good."
"It is," smiled Keith. "I am engaged to be married."
The old gentleman's book fell to the floor.
"You don't say so! Ah, that's very good! Very good! I am glad of that; every young man ought to marry. There is no happiness like it in this world, whatever there may be in the next.
"'Interea dulces pendent circum oscula nati.'
"I will come and see you," he smiled.
"Come and see me!"
"But I am not very much at home in New York," he pursued rather wistfully; "it is too noisy for me. I am too old-fashioned for it."
"New York? But I'm not going to live in New York!"