George felt a little surprised. Edgar was her brother, a lad of somewhat erratic habits and ideas, who had been at Oxford when George last heard of him.
"Yes, if he wants to go, and Stephen approves," he said; for Stephen, the lawyer, was an elder brother, and the Wests had lost their parents.
"He will be relieved to get him off his hands for a while; but Edgar will be over to see you during the afternoon. He's spending a week or two with the Charltons."
"I remember that young Charlton and he were close acquaintances."
"That was the excuse for the visit; but you had better understand that there was a certain amount of friction when Edgar came home after some trouble with the authorities. In his opinion, Stephen is too fond of making mountains out of molehills; but I must own that Edgar's molehills have a way of increasing in size, and the last one caused us a good deal of uneasiness. Anyway, we have decided that a year's hard work in Canada might help to steady him, even if he doesn't follow up farming. The main point is that he would be safe with you."
"I'll have a talk with him," George promised; and after a word of thanks Ethel turned away.
A little later she joined Mrs. Lansing, who was sitting alone in the shadow of a beech.
"I'm afraid I've added to George's responsibilities—he has agreed to take Edgar out," she said. "He has some reason for wishing to be delivered from his friends, though I don't suppose he does so."
"I've felt the same thing. Of course, I'm not referring to Edgar—his last scrape was only a trifling matter."
"So he contends," laughed Ethel. "Stephen doesn't agree with him."