The few necessary purchases were made, the suit that Andrew Pryor required at his dinner-table was ordered, and Neil Lowell returned home.
He had scarcely completed his preparations when the chimes announced dinner.
With a heart that thrilled with embarrassment, but well concealed by the most composed exterior, he descended to the dinner-room.
Andrew Pryor received him.
"My dear," he said to his wife, "you have known this young man as a boy to whom I have taken a great liking, but for a service rendered me to-day that shows his capability to fill such a position with credit to himself, I have made him my private secretary. I wish him in future to be received as a member of my family. Gwen, my dear, come here. Miss Pryor, allow me to present Mr. Lowell!"
The formal introduction was made to his eldest daughter, who bowed courteously, then followed by an introduction to the others, two in number.
Gravely, and with the polish of a courtier, Neil Lowell responded to the introduction, filling Andrew Pryor with more surprise than ever.
"Where in thunder did the boy get his polish?" he kept asking himself all through dinner, but the end came without his having found a reply.
"He is a charming boy!" Alice told her sister, Gwendolyn, when they were alone in their own room.
And Gwendolyn, contrary to her custom, did not negative the assertion.