riedly, "will you come and see us again? I—it's difficult to explain—but I do wish Harper knew more men—the right sort of men. Do you understand?"
"You mean—he needs more company?"
"More company of the right kind. He doesn't know many nice men. And he has so little to occupy him. He's no head for business—my mother attends to all that—and he doesn't care much about sport—and when he goes into Barford he only hangs about the club, and, I'm afraid, at two or three of the hotels there, and—it's not good for him."
"Can't you get him interested in anything?" suggested Collingwood. "Is there nothing that he cares about?"
"He never did care about anything," replied Nesta with a sigh. "He's apathetic! He just moves along. Sometimes I think he was born half asleep, and he's never been really awakened. Pity, isn't it?"
"Considering everything—a great pity," agreed Collingwood. "But—he's provided for."
Nesta gave him a swift glance.
"It might have been a good deal better for him if he hadn't been provided for!" she said. "He'd have just had to do something, then. But—if you come back, you'll come here sometimes?"
"Of course!" answered Collingwood. "And if I come back, it will probably be to stop here. Mr. Eldrick says there's a lot of work going begging in Barford—for a smart young barrister well up in commercial law. Perhaps I may try to come up to his standard—I'm certainly young, but I don't know whether I'm smart."
