up when we came in, or till he had finished the letter; and you may
be sure that neither I nor my father (who, as Head of the House,
should have had more respect from him) took the trouble to go to him.
After all, he is a pauper and a wastrel, and he has not the honour of
bearing our Name. The General, however, came forward and greeted us
both cordially. He evidently had forgotten--or pretended to have--
the discourteous way he once treated me, for he spoke to me quite in
a friendly way--I thought more warmly than he did to father. I was
pleased to be spoken to so nicely, for, after all, whatever his
manners may be, he is a distinguished man--has won the V.C. and a
Baronetcy. He got the latter not long ago, after the Frontier War in
India. I was not, however, led away into cordiality myself. I had
not forgotten his rudeness, and I thought that he might be sucking up
to me. I knew that when I had my dear Uncle Roger's many millions I
should be a rather important person; and, of course, he knew it too.
So I got even with him for his former impudence. When he held out
his hand I put one finger in it, and said, "How do?" He got very red
and turned away. Father and he had ended by glaring at each other,
so neither of us was sorry to be done with him. All the time Mr. St.
Leger did not seem to see or hear anything, but went on reading his
letter. I thought the old MacSkelpie was going to bring him into the
matter between us, for as he turned away I heard him say something
under his breath. It sounded like "Help!" but Mr. S-- did not hear.
He certainly no notice of it.

As the MacS-- and Mr. S-- sat quite silent, neither looking at us,
and as father was sitting on the other side of the room with his chin
in his hand, and as I wanted to show that I was indifferent to the
two S's, I took out this notebook, and went on with the Record,
bringing it up to this moment.