trade with the Indians, or engage in any business enterprise, as to
gratify a craving for nature and surround himself with such scenery
as he loved to paint. It would be folly to pretend that Guir was a
man of ordinary tastes and disposition; for had he been such, he
would never have undertaken a journey, with a family of girls, into
such a wilderness as Virginia was at that time. No; from the very
circumstances of his birth and education, he was unfitted to live
with his countrymen; hence his early adoption of the colony as a home
for himself, wife, and daughters. This happened a hundred and fifty
years ago."

"He was an ancestor of yours, I presume," said Paul, hoping to gain
some clew to the man's identity.

"No," answered Ah Ben, "he was not."

"Pardon the interruption," added Paul, fearing he had annoyed the
speaker.

"Naturally, in a country without roads, or even wagon trails,"
continued the old man, without noticing the apology, "it was years
before a house of this size could be completed, as every brick and
nearly every stick of timber was brought from England. These, of
course, were conveyed by water as far as the rivers permitted, the
rest of the journey being performed upon sleds drawn by oxen. But it
was Guir's hobby, and in the course of a dozen or fifteen years the
job was completed, and the house stood as you see it now. Then the
owner set himself to work with brush, canvas, and chisel to decorate
his home, and make it, according to his ideas, as beautiful and
suggestive of his early youth as imaginable. With his own hands, Mr.