category of "good but incompetent." But whatever he lacked in brilliancy, he endeavored to atone for in frequency and duration. His visits were interminable, and presently I found that he had settled into the position of "me friend" which seemed to entail at least a fair prospect of permanency—a prospect further confirmed at Christmas by the appearance on Sheila's round arm of a new shiny gold (rolled?) watch.
I tried to conceal my surprise over this and other costly tokens that the season brought Sheila. She herself took them in a matter-of-fact way that betokened an astonishing ability to assimilate the new world and all its doings. But their appearance confirmed my conviction that not only is money more easily earned and spent than formerly, but that boys and girls of Sheila's class are much less prone to the habit of saving than were their forbears.
Of course I duly admired the watch, thinking thus to add to Sheila's own pleasure in it, but was rather baffled by an ostentatious show of indifference on her part.
In the course of a very few months, Sheila had become a well-poised, self-assured young person. Life in Canada had wrought a marked
