THE DOMINANT DOLLAR

_By the Same Author_

BEN BLAIR. THE STORY OF A PLAINSMAN. With frontispiece in full color by MaynardDixon. _Seventh edition, 60th thousand. _

[***] Besides the wide success of "Ben Blair"in this country the book appeared in a large editionin London and also in Australia. 

PUBLISHED BY A. C. MCCLURG & CO. , CHICAGO

[Illustration: "Most of all because I love you" (_Page 242_)]

 The Dominant Dollar

 _By_ WILL LILLIBRIDGE

 AUTHOR OF "Ben Blair, " "The Dissolving Circle, " "The Quest Eternal, " "Where the Trail Divides, " Etc. 

 WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS BY LESTER RALPH

 A. L. BURT COMPANY PUBLISHERS :: NEW YORK

 COPYRIGHT A. C. MCCLURG & CO. 1909

 Published September 11, 1909

 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England

 _All rights reserved_

CONTENTS

BOOK I

 CHAPTER PAGE I. A Prophecy 9 II. Understanding 35 III. Pleasure 56 IV. Uncertainty 70 V. Certainty 87 VI. A Warning 110 VII. Rebellion 126 VIII. Catastrophe 146

BOOK II

 I. Anticipation 165 II. Acquaintance 185 III. Friendship 203 IV. Comprehension 217 V. Fulfilment 241 VI. Crisis 268 VII. Travesty 285 VIII. Celebration 302 IX. Admonition 320 X. Decision 330

ILLUSTRATIONS

 PAGE

 "Most of all because I love you" (_Page 242_) _Frontispiece_

 "I'm tired of reading about life and hearing about life. I want to live it" (_Page 66_) 64

 "Steve!" The girl was on her feet. "I never dreamed, never--You poor boy!" (_Page 153_) 156

 "You mean to suggest that Elice, " he began, "that Elice--You dare to suggest that to me?" (_Page 107_) 278

The Dominant Dollar

BOOK I

CHAPTER I

A PROPHECY

"You're cold-blooded as a fish, Roberts, colder. You're--There is noadequate simile. "

The man addressed said nothing. 

"You degrade every consideration in life, emotional and other, to adollar-and-cents basis. Sentiment, ambition, common judgment of right andwrong, all gravitate to the same level. You have a single standard ofmeasurement that you apply to all alike, which alike condemns orjustifies. Summer and Winter, morning, noon, and night--it's the same. Your little yardstick is always in evidence, measuring, measuring--You, confound you, drive me to distraction with your eternal 'does it pay. '"

Still the other man said nothing. 

"I know, " apologetically, "I'm rubbing it in pretty hard, Darley, but Ican't help it. You exasperate me beyond my boiling point at times and Isimply can't avoid bubbling over. I believe if by any possibility youwere ever to have a romance in your life, and it came on slowly enough soyou could analyze a bit in advance, you'd still get out your tape lineand tally up to the old mark: would it pay!"

This time the other smiled, a smile of tolerant amusement. 

"And why shouldn't I? Being merely the fish you suggest, it seems to methat that's the one time in a human being's life when, more than another, deliberation is in order. The wider the creek the longer the wise manwill linger on the margin to estimate the temperature of the current inevent of failure to reach the opposite bank. Inadvertently, Armstrong, you pass me a compliment. Merely as an observer, marriage looks to melike the longest leap a sane man will ever attempt. "

"I expected you'd say that, " shortly, --"predicted it. "

"You give me credit for being consistent, then, at least. "

"Yes, you're consistent all right. "

"Thanks. That's the first kind word I've heard in a long time. "

The other made a wry face. 

"Don't thank me, " he excepted. "I'm not at all sure I meant the admissionto be complimentary; in fact I hardly think I did. I was hoping for onceI'd find you napping, without your measuring stick. In other words--findyou--human. "

"And now you're convinced the case is hopeless?"

"Convinced, yes, if I thought you were serious. "

Roberts laughed, a big-chested, tolerant laugh. 

"Seems to me you ought to realize by this time that I am serious, Armstrong. You've known me long enough. Do you still fancy I've beenposing these last five years you've known me?"

"No; you never pose, Darley. This is a compliment, I think; moreover, it's the reason most of all why I like you. " He laughed in turn, unconsciously removing the sting from the observation following. "I can'tsee any other possible excuse for our being friends. We're as differentas night is from day. "

The criticism was not new, and Roberts said nothing. 

"I wonder now and then, at times like this, " remarked Armstrong, "howlong we will stick together. It's been five years, as you say. I wonderif it'll be another five. "

The smile vanished from Darley Roberts' eyes, leaving them shrewd andgray. 

"I wonder, " he repeated. 

"It'll come some time, the break. It's inevitable. We're fundamentallytoo different to avoid a clash. "

"You think so?"

"I know so. It's written. "

"And when we do?"

"We'll hate each other--as much as we like each other now. That, too, iswritten. "

Again Roberts laughed. A listener would have read self-confidencetherein. 

"If that's the case, wouldn't it be wiser for us to separate in advanceand avoid the horrors of civil war? I'll move out and leave you inpeaceful possession of our cave if you wish. "

"No; I don't want you to. I need you. That's another compliment. You holdme down to earth. You're a helpful influence, Darley, providing one knowsyou and takes you with allowance. "

The comment was whimsical, but beneath was a deeper, more tacit admissionwhich both men understood, that drowned the surface banter of thewords. 

"I think again, sometimes, " drifted on Armstrong, "that if the powerswhich are could only put us both in a pot as I put things together downin the laboratory, and melt us good and shake us up, so, until we wereall mixed into one, it would make a better product than either of us aswe are now. "

"Perhaps, " equivocally. 

"But that's the curse of it. The thing can't be done. The Lord put ushere, you you, and me me, and we've got to stick it out to the end. "

"And become enemies in the course of events. "

"Yes, " quickly, "but let's not think about it. It'll come soon enough;and meantime--" The sentence halted while with unconscious skillArmstrong rolled a cigarette--"and meantime, " he repeated as he scratcheda match and waited for the sulphur to burn free, "I want to use you. "Again the sentence halted while he blew a cloud of smoke: "I had anotheroffer to-day. "

Following the other's example, Roberts lit a cigar, big and black, andsat puffing in judicial expectancy. 

"It's what you'd call a darned good offer, " explained Armstrong:"position as chemist to the Graham Specialty Company, who are buildingthe factory over on the East side--perfumes and toilet preparations andthat sort of thing. "

"Yes. "

"Graham himself came to see me. As a matter of fact he's the wholecompany. He labored with me for two hours. I had to manufacture anengagement out of whole cloth to get away. "

"And you decided--"

"I didn't decide. I took the matter under advisement. "

"Which means that you did decide after all. "

Armstrong grimaced in a mannerism all his own, an action that ended in anall-expressive shrug. "I suppose so, " he admitted reluctantly. 

"I hardly see where I can be of service then, " commented the other. "Ifyou were ten years younger and a minor and I your guardian--"

"You might point out with your yardstick how many kinds of an idiot I amand stir me up. "

His companion smiled; as suddenly the look passed. 

"I'd do so cheerfully if it would do any good. As it is--" The sentenceended in comprehensive silence. "What, by the way, did Graham offer?"

"Five thousand dollars a year, and if I made good an interest later inthe business. He said four thousand dollars to begin with and graduallycrawled up. "

"You're getting now from the University--"

"Twelve hundred. "

"With ultimate possibilities, --I emphasize possibilities--"

"I'll be dean of the department some day if I stick. "

"With a salary of two thousand a year. "

Armstrong nodded. 

"And that's the end, the top round of the ladder if you were to remainuntil you were fifty and were displaced eventually without a pension. "

"Yes; that's the biggest plum on the university tree. It can't growanything larger. "

In his place Darley Roberts dropped back as though he had nothing to say. Involuntarily, with a nervous impatience distinctive of him, his fingerstapped twice on the edge of the chair; then, aroused to attention, thehand lay still. 

"Well?" commented Armstrong at length. 

Roberts merely looked at him, not humorously nor with intent totantalize, but with unconscious analysis written large upon his face. 

"Well?" repeated Armstrong, "I'm waiting. The floor is yours. "

"I was merely wondering, " slowly, "how it would seem to be a person likeyou. I can't understand. "

"No, you can't, Darley. As I said a moment ago, we're different as day isfrom night. "

"I was wondering another thing, too, Armstrong. Do you want to know whatit was?"

"Yes; I know in advance I'll not have to blush at a compliment. "

"I don't know about that. I'm not the judge. I merely anticipated infancy the time when you will wake up. You will some day. It's inevitable. To borrow your phrase, 'it's written. '"

"You think so?" The accompanying smile was appreciative. 

"I know so. It's life we're living, not fiction. "

"And when I do--pardon me--come out of it?" The questioner was stillsmiling. 

"That's what I was speculating on. " Again the impatient fingers tapped onthe chair, and again halted at their own alarm. "You'll either be agenius and blossom in a day, or be a dead failure and go to the devil bythe shortest route. "

"You think there's no possible middle trail?"

"Not for you. You're not built that way. "

The prediction was spoken with finality--too much finality to be takenhumorously. Responsively, bit by bit, the smile left Armstrong's face. 

"I won't attempt to answer that, Darley, or to defend myself. To comeback to the point, you think I'm a fool not to accept Graham's offer?"

As before, his companion shrugged unconsciously. That was all. 

"Does it occur to you that I might possibly have a reason--one that, while it wouldn't show up well under your tape line, to me seemsadequate?"

"I'm not immune to reason. "

"You'd like to have me put it in words?"

"Yes, if you wish. "

"Well, then, first of all, I've spent ten years working up to where I amnow. I've been through the mill from laboratory handy-man to assistantdemonstrator, from that to demonstrator, up again to quiz-master, tosubstitute-lecturer, until now I'm at the head of my department. Thatlooks small to you, I know; but to me it means a lot. Two hundred men, bright fellows too, fill up the amphitheatre every day and listen to mefor an hour. They respect me, have confidence in my ability--and I try tomerit it. That means I must study and keep up with the procession in myline. It's an incentive that a man can't have any other way, a practicalnecessity. That's the first reason. On the other hand, if I went to workfor Graham I'd be dubbing around in a back room laboratory all by myselfand doing what he wanted done whether it was interesting in the least ornot. "

"In other words, " commented Roberts, "you'd be down to bed rock with thetwo hundred admirers removed from the bed. "

"I suppose so--looking at it that way. "

"All right. Go on. "

"The second reason is that my employment as full professor gives me anestablished position--call it social position if you wish--here in theUniversity that I couldn't possibly get in any other way. They realizewhat it means to hold the place, and give me credit for it. We're allhuman and it's pleasant to be appreciated. If I went to work in a factoryI'd be an alien--outside the circle--and I'd stay there. "

"There are eighty million people in the United States, " commentedRoberts, drily. "By stretching, your circle would probably take in twothousand of that number. "

"I know it's limited; but there's an old saying that it's better to be abig toad in a small puddle than a small toad in a large pond. "

"I recall there's an adage to that effect. "

"Lastly, there's another reason, the biggest of all. As it is now theState employs me to deliver a certain number of lectures a semester. I dothis; and the rest of the time is mine. In it I can do what I please. IfI accepted a position in a private enterprise it would be different. Ishould sell my time outright--and be compelled to deliver it all. Ishouldn't have an hour I could call my own except at night, and thechances are I shouldn't have enough energy left for anything else whennight came. You know what I'm trying to do--that I'm trying to work up aname as a writer. I'd have to give up that ambition entirely. I simplycan't or won't do that yet. "

"You've been keeping up this--fight you mention for ten years now, youtold me once. Is anything definite in sight?"

"No; not exactly definite; but Rome wasn't built in a day. I'm willing towait. "

"And meantime you're getting older steadily. "

"I repeat I'm willing to wait--and trust a little. "

Tap, tap went the impatient fingers again. 

"Something's bound to drop in time if one is only patient. "

Roberts looked up quickly, the gray eyes keen, the tapping fingersstilled. 

"Something has dropped, my friend, and you don't recognize it. "

"The tape line again. The eternal tape line! It's pure waste of energy, Darley, to attempt to make you understand. As I said before, you'refundamentally incapable. "

"Perhaps, " evenly. "But for your sake I've listened and tried. At leastgive me credit for that. " Of a sudden he glanced up keenly. "By the way, you're not going out this evening?"

"No, Elice is out of town. " Armstrong caught himself. "I suppose that iswhat you meant. "

For a moment before he answered Roberts busied himself with a stray flakeof ash on his sleeve. 

"Yes, in a way, " he said. "I was going to suggest that you tell her whatyou told me before you said 'no' to Graham. "

"It's unnecessary. " The tone was a trifle stiff. "She at leastunderstands me. "

The other man made no comment. 

"You're not going out either this evening, Darley?" returned Armstrong. 

"No; I'm scheduled for bed early to-night. I've had a strenuous day, andto-morrow will be another. "

It was already late of a rainy May evening, the room was getting dim, andsilently Armstrong turned on the electric light. Following, in equalsilence, his companion watching him the while understandingly, he lit apipe. Stephen Armstrong seldom descended to a pipe, and when he did sothe meaning of the action to one who knew him well was lucid. It meantconfidence. Back in his seat he puffed hard for a half minute; then blewat the smoke above his head. 

"Was that mere chance that made you suggest--Elice in connection withthat offer of Graham's, " he asked, at last; "or did you mean more thanthe question seemed to imply, Darley?"

Again for an appreciable space there was silence. 

"I seldom do things by chance, Armstrong. To use your own simile, I'm toomuch of a fish. I don't want to seem to interfere with your personalaffairs, however. I beg your pardon if you wish. "

"But I don't wish you to do so, " shortly. "You know that. Besides there'snothing to conceal so far as I'm concerned. Just what did you mean tosuggest?"

Again the other hesitated, with a reluctance that was not simulated. Darley Roberts simulated nothing. 

"If you really wish to know, " he complied at last, "I think you ought totell, her--without coloring the matter by your own point of view in theleast. She should be as much interested as you yourself. "

"She is. Take that for granted. "

Roberts waited. 

"I know, though, so certainly what she would say that it seems a bitsuperfluous. "

Still Roberts waited. 

"As I said before, she understands me and I understand her. Some thingsdon't require language to express. They come by intuition. "

And still Roberts waited. 

"If it were you, now, and there were any possibility of a yardstick itwould be different; but as it is--"

"Miss Gleason then, Mrs. Armstrong to be, doesn't care in the least tosee you come on financially, is completely satisfied with things as theyare?"

It was Armstrong's turn to be silent. 

"You've been engaged now three years. You're thirty years old and MissGleason is--"

"Twenty-five in August. "

"She is wholly contented to let the engagement run on indefinitely, knowing that your income is barely enough for one to live on and not atall adequate for two?"

The other stiffened involuntarily; but he said nothing. 

"I beg your pardon the second time, Armstrong, if you wish; but remember, please, I'm doing this by request. "

"I know, Darley. I'm not an absolute cad, and I'm glad you are frank. Doubtless from your point of view I'm a visionary ass. But I don't seewhere any one suffers on that account except myself. "

"Don't see where any one suffers save yourself! Don't see--! You can't beserious, man!"

Armstrong had ceased smoking. The pipe lay idle in his fingers. 

"No. Come out into the clearing and put it in plain English. Just what doyou mean?"

"Since you insist, I mean just this, Armstrong--and if you'll think amoment you'll realize for yourself it's true: you can't drift on foreverthe way you're doing now. If you weren't engaged it would be different;but you are engaged. Such being the case it implies a responsibility anda big one. To dangle so is unjust to the girl. Let this apply in theabstract. It's damnably unjust!"

"You think that I--"

"I don't think at all, I know. We can theorize and moon and drift aboutin the clouds all we please; but when eventually our pipe goes out and wecome down to earth this thing of marriage is practical. It's give andtake, with a whole lot to give. I haven't been practising law and dealingwith marital difficulties, to say nothing of divorces, without getting afew inside facts. Marriages are made in Heaven, perhaps, but married lifeis lived right here on earth; and the butcher and the rest play leadingparts. I recognize I'm leading the procession a bit now, Armstrong; butas I said before, you can't dangle much longer if you're an honorableman; and then what I've said is right in line. If you'll take a word ofadvice that's intended right, even if it seems patronizing, you'll wakeup right now and begin to steer straight for the flag-pole. If you keepon floundering aimlessly and waiting for an act of Providence you'll cometo grief as surely as to-morrow is coming, old man. "

"And by steering straight you mean to save money. To get my eye on adollar, leave everything else, and chase it until it drops fromfatigue. "

"I mean get power; and dollars are the tangible evidence andmanifestation of power. They are the only medium that passes current inany country any day in the year. "

Armstrong smiled, a smile that was not pleasant to see. 

"You'd have me give up my literary aspirations then, let them diea-borning as it were--"

"I didn't say that. So far as I can see you can keep on just the same. There are twenty-four hours in every day. But make that phase secondary. I don't discount writers in the least or their work; but with the worldas it is the main chance doesn't lie that way--and it's the main chancewe're all after. Fish or no fish, I tell you some time you'll find thisout for yourself. To get the most out of life a man must be in theposition to pass current wherever he may be. In the millennium thestandard may be different--I for one sincerely hope it will be; but inthe twentieth century dollars are the key that unlocks everything. Without them you're as helpless as a South Sea islander in a metropolitanstreet. You're at the mercy of every human being that wants to give you akick; and the majority will give it to you if they see you aredefenceless. "

Armstrong was still smiling, the same being a smile not pleasant to see. 

"Now that I've got you going, " he commented, "I've a curiosity to haveyou keep on. You're certainly stirring with a vengeance to-night, Darley. "

"And accomplishing nothing. Strange as it may seem to you, I'm serious. "

"I don't doubt it, old man. " Of a sudden the smile had passed. "I can'tadjust my point of view to yours at all. If I thought dollars were theend of existence I'd quit the game now. If the world has come to this--"

"The world hasn't come to it and never will. You simply can't or won'tsee the point. I repeat, that of themselves they're nothing, but they'rethe means to everything. Get your competency first, your balance-wheel, your independence, your established base of supplies; then plan yourcampaign. The world is big, infinitely big, to the human being who cancommand. It's a little mud ball to the other who has to dance wheneversome one else whistles. "

"And how about happiness, the thing we're all after?"

"It isn't happiness, but it's the means to it. There can be no happinesswithout independence. "

"Even marital happiness?"

"That most of all. I tell you the lack of a sufficient income is the rockon which most married people go to pieces. It isn't the only one, butit's the most frequent. I've seen and I know. "

"You'd drive our old friend Cupid out of business, Darley. You don't givehim an inch of ground to stand on. "

"On the contrary, I keep him in business indefinitely--"

"Moreover, the examples of the rich, scattered broadcast through thedaily papers, hardly bear you out. "

"They are the exception that proves the rule. Nine hundred andninety-nine poor couples come to grief, and the world never hears of it. In the thousandth case a rich man and woman make fools of themselves andthe world reads the scandal next morning. The principle is unaltered. Theexceptions, the irresponsibles whether rich or poor, are something towhich no rule applies. "

"All right. " Armstrong sat up, preventingly. "I don't want to argue withyou. You're a typical lawyer and always ride me down by pure force ofmass. " He smiled. "Gentlemen of the law are invariably that way, Darley. Figuratively, you fellows always travel horseback while the rest of us goafoot, and if we don't hustle out of the way you ride us down withoutremorse. "

Roberts was listening again in silence, with his normal attitude ofpassive observance. 

"I'm feeling pretty spry, though, to-night, " went on the other, "and ableto get out of the way, so I'm going to get in close as possible and watchyou. I've tried to do so before, but somehow I'm always side-tracked justat the psychological moment. " The quizzical voice became serious, theflippant manner vanished. "Honestly, Darley, I can't understand you anymore than you can me. You said a bit ago you wondered where I would end. I have the same wonder about you. Just what are you aiming at, old man, anyway? In all the years I've known you _you've_ never come right out andsaid in so many words. "

"You mean what do I intend to do that will make me famous or infamous, that will at least make me talked about?"

Armstrong laughed shortly. The shot was well aimed. 

"I suppose that is approximately what I had in mind, " he admitted. 

"To answer your question then, directly, I don't intend to do anything. Nothing is further from my plans than to get a position where I'll betalked about. "

"Just what do you want, then?"

"I want the substance, not the husk. I want to be the party that pullsthe wires and not the figures that dance on the front of the stage. Iwant things done when I say they shall be done. I want the piper to playwhen I pass the word. I'm perfectly willing that others should have thehonor and the glory and the limelight; but after the play is over I wantto be the boy to whom the report is made and who gives directions for thenext performance. Is that definite enough?"

"Yes, definite enough; but are you going to get there? You asked me thesame question, you recall, a bit ago. "

"Yes, if I live. "

"And if you don't live?"

Again the shrug. "I shall have tried. I can tell Saint Peter that. "

"I didn't refer to Saint Peter. I meant you yourself. Where is your ownjustification except in the attainment of the end?"

"Justification!" Roberts leaned suddenly forward, his attitude no longerthat of an observer but of a participant, one in the front of the charge. "The game is its own justification, man! Things don't have to be donewith two hundred bright young students watching and listening to be worthwhile, my friend. "

Armstrong shifted uncomfortably, then he tacked. 

"Just one more question, a repetition again of your own. Have you theattainment of this object you suggest definitely in sight? You're olderthan I and have been playing the game some time yourself. "

"I think so. "

"Do you know so?"

"As nearly as a man can know anything that hasn't come to pass. "

"Just how, Darley? I'm absolutely in the dark in regard to your deals andI'm curious to know the inside. You've got something particular in mind, I know, or you wouldn't speak that way. "

For the first time in minutes Roberts looked at the other, lookedsteadily, blankly. 

"I'm sorry genuinely, Armstrong, but I can't tell you now. Don'tmisunderstand, please. I'd tell you if I were not under obligation; butI'm not at liberty yet to say. " His glance left the other's face. "Itrust you understand. "

"Yes, certainly. " The voice was short. "No offence, I'm sure. "

That there was offence was obvious, yet Roberts made no further commentor explanation. 

For perhaps a minute there was silence; in characteristic change ofthought absolute Armstrong shifted. 

"As long as we're in the confidant business, " he digressed, "there'sstill one question I'd like to ask, Darley. Elice and I have beenintimate now for a number of years. I've asked you repeatedly to callwith me and you've always refused. Even yet you've barely met her. Iquote you by the yard when I'm with her, and, frankly, she's--curious whyyou stay at arm's length. Between yourself and myself why is it, Darley?"

Roberts laughed; an instant later the light left his face. 

"You know I have few women acquaintances, " he said. 

"I know, but this particular case is different. "

"And those I do have, " completed the other, "are all securely married. "

Armstrong colored. 

"I don't mean that, " smiled Roberts, "and you know I don't. I'm not foolenough to fancy I'm a charmer. The explanation, I believe, is in myancestry. I think they must have been fishes too, and instinct warns meto avoid bait. It's my own peace of mind I'm considering and preserving, friend Armstrong. "

"Peace of mind!" the other laughed. "From you that's good, Darley. Butthe tape line--"

"Can't you find it?"

"I confess--You think there is a time then, after all, when it pays?"

"Do you fancy I show signs of feeble-mindedness?"

"No, emphatically not; but--Jove, you are human then after all! I beginto have hope. "

Roberts stifled a yawn, a real yawn. 

"I think I'll turn in, " he said. 

"Just a moment, Darley. I feel as though I'd discovered a gold mine, andI want to blaze its location before departing. Just when, with yourphilosophy, do you contemplate taking this important leap among theattached?"

Roberts looked at his companion in silence. 

"Pardon me, Darley, " swiftly, "that was flippant, I admit, but I'm reallyserious. "

"Serious? I'll take you at your word. It'll be when I mean business, notpastime. Stretch the tape if you wish. There are some things it doesn'tpay to play with. It'll be when I can give a woman the things, thematerial things, she wants and demands to make her happy and contented. The world is artificial, and material things are its reflection. When Ican make the woman who chooses to marry me pass current anywhere, when Ican be the means of giving her more pleasure, more opportunity, more ofthe good things of life than she has known before, then, when I know, nothope, this, --and not a minute before--Does that answer your question?"

"Yes; that's clear enough, I'm sure--the implication, too, for thatmatter. " The speaker yawned, unnecessarily it seemed, for his look waskeen. "By the way, though, you haven't given me a satisfactoryexplanation for avoiding Elice. She's attached practically, notunattached; and I personally want you to know her. I think it would makeyou understand some things you don't understand now. You might evenapprove of--dangling. What do you say, will you go out with me someevening or will you have another engagement as usual? I shan't suggest itagain, Darley. "

Standing, as he had risen a moment before, Darley Roberts looked down atthe speaker steadily, the distinctive half-smile of tolerant analysisupon his lips. He laughed outright as though to clear the atmosphere. 

"Certainly I'll go, Armstrong, if you wish. It never occurred to mebefore that you took it that way. I had supposed that you and Elice werean example of two being a company and three making a crowd; also, tochange the simile, that previously your invitations were the proverbialcrumbs of charity. I'll be pleased to go any time you wish. "

"All right. " Armstrong too had risen. "How about Sunday evening nextweek? Elice will be back Saturday. "

"A week from Sunday; I shall not forget. "

With the attitude of a big healthy animal, a bit sleepy now, Robertsstretched himself luxuriously, then started for his own room adjoining, calling back, "Good-night. "

Armstrong watched him in silence until the other's hand was on the knob. 

"Good-night, " he echoed absently. 

CHAPTER II

UNDERSTANDING

"What is it, Elice? You're transparent as spring water. Out with it. "

"Out with what, Steve?"

"The secret information of vital importance that you're holding back withan effort for a favorable moment to deliver. The present isn'tparticularly dramatic, I'll admit, but it's the best circumstancespermit. "

"You're simply absurd, Steve; more so than usual. "

"No, merely ordinarily observant. I've known you some time, and thesymptoms are infallible. When you get that absent, beyond-earth look inyour eyes, and sit twisting around and around that mammoth diamond ringyour uncle gave you on your sixteenth birthday--Come, I'm impatient fromthe toes up. Who is engaged now?"

"No one, so far as I know. "

"Married, then; don't try to fool me. "

"Who told you, Steve Armstrong?"

"No one. " The accompanying laugh was positively boyish. "I knew it wasone or the other. Come, 'fess up. I'll be good, honest. "

"You get younger every day, Steve, " grudgingly. "If you keep on goingbackward people will be taking me for your mother soon instead of--merelymyself. "

"You shouldn't go away then, Elice. I'm tickled sick and irresponsiblealmost to have you back. I'm not to blame. But we're losing valuabletime. I'm listening. "

"You swear that you don't know already--that you aren't merely making funof me?"

"On my honor as full professor of chemistry. I haven't even asuspicion. "

"I wonder if you are serious--somehow I never know. I'll risk it anyway, and if you're just leading me on I'll never forgive you, Steve, never. It's Margery. "

"Margery! The deuce it is--and Harry Randall, of course. "

"Certainly. Who'd you think it was: Professor Wilson with his eightchildren?"

"Now I call that unkind, Elice. After all the interest I've shown, too!Honest, though, I am struck all in a heap. I never dreamed of such athing--now. "

The result of the revelation was adequate and Miss Gleason relented. 

"It was rather 'sudden, ' as they say. No one knew of it except their ownfamilies. "

"Sudden! I should decidedly say so. I certainly thought they at leastwere to be depended upon, were standbys. When did it happen?"

"Last evening. Agnes Simpson just told me before you came. "

"She did, did she? I thought she looked wondrous mysterious when I mether down the street. It was justifiable, though, under the circumstances. I suppose they, the Randalls, have gone away somewhere?"

"No; that's the funny part of it. They haven't gone and aren't going. "

"Not at all?"

"No. I'm quoting Agnes. "

"And why aren't they going? Did Agnes explain that?"

"Steve, you're horrid again. "

"No; merely curious this time. Agnes is something of an authority, you'lladmit. "

"Yes; I guess I'll have to admit that. I didn't ask her, though, SteveArmstrong. She suggested gratis--that Harry couldn't afford it. Theywent into debt to buy furnishings for the house as it was. "

"I don't doubt it. History pays even less than chemistry, and the Lordknows--No; I don't doubt it. "

"Knows what, Steve?"

"Who knows what?"

"The one you suggested. "

"Oh! I guess you caught the inference all right. No need to have put itin the abstract. We professors of the younger set are all in the sameboat. We'd all have to go into debt under like circumstances. "

Elice Gleason meditated. 

"But Harry's been a full professor now a long time, " she commented; "twoyears longer than you. "

"And what difference does that make? He just lives on his salary. "

"Is that so? I never thought of it that way. I don't think I everconsidered the financial side before at all. "

Armstrong looked his approval. 

"I dare say not, Elice; and I for one am mighty glad you didn't. Life ischeap enough at best without adding to its cheapness unnecessarily. "

The girl seemed scarcely to hear him, missing the argument entirely. 

"I suppose, though, " she commented reflectively, "when one does think ofit, that it'll be rather hard on Margery to scrimp. She's always hadeverything she wants and isn't used to economizing. "

Armstrong sat a moment in thought. He gave his habitual shrug. 

"She should have thought of that before the minister came, " he dismissedwith finality. "It's a trifle late now. "

"They've been putting it off for a long time, though, " justified thegirl, "and probably she thought--one has to cease delaying some time. "

"Elice! Elice!" Armstrong laughed banteringly. "I believe you've got theJune bug fluttering in your bonnet too. It's contagious this time ofyear, isn't it?"

"Shame on you, Steve!" The voice was dripping with reproach. "You alwayswill be personal. You know I didn't mean it that way. "

"Not a bit, honest now?"

"I say you ought to be ashamed to make fun of me that way. "

"But honest--"

"Well, " reluctantly, "maybe I did just a bit. We too have been engagedquite a while. "

"Almost as long as the Randalls. "

"Yes. "

The quizzical look left Armstrong's eyes, but he said nothing. 

"And I suppose every woman wants a home of her own. It's an instinct. Ithink I understand Margery. "

From out the porch of the Gleason cottage, shaded from the curious by itsclimbing rose-vines, the girl looked forth at the sputtering electricglobe on the corner. 

"And, besides, people get to talking and smiling and making it unpleasantfor a girl after so long. It was so with Margery. I know, although shenever told me. It bothered her. "

"You say after so long, Elice. How long?"

"I didn't mean any particular length of time, Steve. There isn't any ruleby which you can measure gossip, so far as I know. "

"Approximately, then. "

"Oh, after a year, I suppose. It's about then that there's a comment ortwo sandwiched between the red and blue decks at bridge parties. "

"And we've been engaged now three years. Do they ever sandwich--"

"How do I know. They don't do it to one's face. "

"But Margery--you say they made it uncomfortable for her. "

"Steve Armstrong, " the voice was intentionally severe, "what possessesyou to-night? I can't fancy what put that notion into your head. "

"You did yourself, " serenely, "just now. I never happened to stumble uponthis particular continent before, and I'm intent on exploration anddiscovery. Honest, do they, " he made an all-inclusive gesture, "talkabout you and me?"

"I tell you they don't do those things to our faces. "

"You're evading the question, girl Elice. "

"They're not unpleasant intentionally. "

"Still evasion. Out with it. Let's clear the air. "

The girl drummed on the arm of her chair, first with one hand, then withthe other. At last she looked the questioner fairly in the face. 

"Frankly, Steve, they do; and they have for a year. But I don't mind. Ididn't intend to say anything to you about it. "

The look of the boy vanished from the other's eyes. 

"I--see, " he commented slowly. 

"People are horrid that way, even people otherwise nice, " amplified thegirl. "As soon as any one they know has an--affair it immediately becomespublic property. It's almost as bad as a murder case. The whole thing istried and settled out of court. "

The figure of the man settled down in his chair to the small of his back. His fingers locked over one knee. 

"I suppose it was something of that kind Darley had in mind, " he said. 

"Darley Roberts? When?"

"We were talking about--similar cases a few days ago. "

"You were?" There was just a shade of pique in the tone. "He must be aregular fount of wisdom. You're always quoting him. "

"He is, " tranquilly. "By the way, with your permission, he's going tocall with me to-morrow night. "

"With my permission!" The girl laughed. "You've solicited, and received, that several times before--and without result. I'm almost beginning todoubt the gentleman's existence. "

"You won't much longer. I invited him and he accepted. He always doeswhat he says he'll do. "

"Very well, " the voice was non-committal. "I'm always glad to meet any ofyour friends. "

Armstrong warmed, as he always did when speaking of Darley Roberts. 

"You will be when you know him, I'm sure. That's why I asked him to come. He's an odd chap and slow to thaw, but there isn't another lawyer intown, not even in the department, who's got his brains. "

"They couldn't have, very well, could they?" evenly. 

"I'll admit that was a trifle involved; but you know what I mean. He'swhat in an undergraduate they call a grind. The kind biographers describeas 'hewing forever to the line. ' If we live and retain reasonably goodhealth we'll hear of him some day. "

"And I repeat, " smilingly, "I've heard of him a great deal already. "

Armstrong said nothing, which indicated mild irritation. 

"Excuse me, Steve, " said the girl, contritely. "I didn't mean to besarcastic; that just slipped out. He has acted sort of queer, though, considering he's your room-mate and--I had that in mind. I am interested, however, really. Tell me about him. "

Armstrong glanced at his companion; his gaze returned to his patentleather pumps, which he inspected with absent-minded concentration. 

"I have told you before, I guess, about all I know. He's a good deal ofan enigma to me, even yet. "

"By the way, how did you happen to get acquainted with him, Steve?" Fromthe manner spoken the question might or might not have been from genuineinterest. "You've never told me that. "

"Oh, it just happened, I guess. We were in the collegiate departmenttogether at first. " He laughed shortly. "No, it didn't just happen eitherafter all. I went more than half way--I recognize that now. "

The girl said nothing. 

"Looking back, " continued the man, "I see the reason, too. He fascinatedme then, as he does yet. I've had comparatively an easy enough sort oflife. I was brought up in town, where there was nothing particular for aboy to do, and when it came college time my father backed me completely. Darley was the opposite exactly, and he interested me. He was unsocial;somehow that interested me more. I used to wonder why he was so when Ifirst knew him; bit by bit I gathered his history and I wondered less. He's had a rough-and-tumble time of it from a youngster up. " The voicehalted suddenly, and the speaker looked at his companion equivocally. "Still interested, are you, Elice? I don't want to be a bore. "

"Yes. "

"I'll give you the story then as I've patched it together from time totime. I suppose he had parents once; but as they never figured, I inferthey died when he was young. He came from the tall meadows out Weststraight to the University here. How he got the educational ambition Ihaven't the remotest idea; somehow he got it and somehow he came. It musthave been a rub to make it. He's mentioned times of working on a farm, ofchopping ties in Missouri, of heaving coal in a bituminous mine in Iowa, of--I don't know what all. And still he was only a boy when I first sawhim; a great, big, over-aged boy with a big chin and bigger hands. Thepeculiar part is that he wasn't awkward and never has been. Even when hefirst showed up here green the boys never made a mark of him. " Again theshort expressive laugh. "I think perhaps they were a bit afraid of him. "

"And he got right into the University?"

"Bless you, no; only tentatively. He had a lot of back work to make upat the academy. That didn't bother him apparently. He swallowed that andthe regular course whole and cried for more. " Armstrong stretched lazily. His hands sought his pockets. "I guess that's about all I know of thestory, " he completed. 

"All except after he was graduated. " It was interest genuine now. 

"So you have begun to take notice at last, " commented Armstrong, smilingly. "I'm a better _raconteur_ than I imagined. When it comes tobeing specific, though, after he graduated, I admit I can't say muchauthoritatively. He'll talk about anything, ordinarily, except himself. Iknow of a dozen cases from the papers, some of them big ones, that he'sbeen concerned in during the last few years; but he's never mentionedthem to me. He seemed to get in right from the start. How he managed toturn the trick I haven't the slightest conception; he simply did. As Isaid before, he grows to be more of an enigma to me all the time. "

Apparently the girl lost interest in the party under discussion; at leastshe asked no more questions and, dilatory as usual when not definitelydirected, Armstrong dropped the lead. For a minute they sat so, gazingout into the night, silent. Under stimulus of a new thought, pointblank, whimsical, came a change of subject. 

"By the way, " commented Armstrong, "I'm considering quitting theUniversity and going into business, Elice. What do you think of theidea?"

"What--I beg your pardon, Steve. "

The other repeated the question, all but soberly this time. 

"Do you mean it, Steve, really, or are you just drawing me out?"

"Mean it!" Armstrong laughed. "Perhaps, and perhaps not. I don't know. What do you think of the notion, anyway?"

The girl looked at him steadily, a sudden wrinkle between her eyes. 

"You have something special in mind, I judge, Steve; something I don'tknow about. What is it?"

"Special!" Armstrong laughed again, shortly this time. "Yes, I supposeso; though I didn't know it when I first asked the question. Now I'muncertain--you take the suggestion so seriously. Graham, the specialtyman, made me an offer to-day to go in with him. Five thousand dollars ayear to start with, and a prospect of more later on. "

The wrinkle between the girl's eyes smoothed. Her hands recrossed in herlap. 

"You refused the offer, I judge, " she said. 

"No; that is, I told him I'd take the matter under advisement. " Armstrongglanced at his companion swiftly; but she was not looking at him and hetoo stared out into the night. "I wanted to hear what you said about itfirst. "

"Steve!"

In the darkness the man's face colored. 

"Elice, aren't you--ashamed a bit to doubt me?"

"No. " She was looking at him now smilingly. "I don't doubt you. I knowyou. "

"You fancy I refused point blank, without waiting to tell you about it?"

For the third time the girl's fingers crossed and interlocked. That wasall. 

"Elice!" The man moved over to her, paused so, looking down into herface. "Tell me, I'm dead in earnest. Don't you trust me?"

"I trust you absolutely, Steve; but that doesn't prevent my knowingyou. "

"And I tell you I took the matter under advisement. "

"He persuaded you to. You refused at first even to consider it. "

Smilingly she returned his injured look fair in the eyes. Still smiling, she watched him as in silence he recrossed slowly to his place. 

"Yes, you're right--as usual, " he admitted at last. "You do know me. Apparently all my friends know me, better than I know myself. " Heshrugged characteristically. "But you haven't answered my question yet. What do you think of my accepting?"

"I try never to think--about the useless. You won't accept. "

"You may be mistaken, may compel me to against my best judgment. "

"No, you won't do that. I shan't influence you in the least. "

For answer Armstrong stood up, his hands deep in his pockets, hisshoulders square. A minute perhaps he stood so. Once he cleared histhroat. He sat down. An instant later he laughed--naturally, in genuineamusement. 

"I surrender, Elice, " he said; "foot, horse, and officers. I can succeedin deceiving myself, easily; but when it comes to you--" He dropped hishands hopelessly. "On the square, though, and between ourselves, do youwant me to quit the University and accept this--job? It's a good lead, Irealize. "

"I'd rather not say either way, " slowly. "I repeat that it's useless todisagree, when nothing would be gained. "

"Disagree! We never disagree. We never have in all the time we've knowneach other. "

"We've never discussed things where disagreement was probable. "

"Maybe that's right. I never thought of it before. " A pause. "Has thatharmony been premeditated on your part?"

"Unconsciously so, yes. It's an instinct with me, I think, to avoid theuseless. "

Armstrong stared across the dim light of the porch. Mentally he pinchedhimself. 

"Well, I am dumb, " he commented, "and you are wonderful. Let's break therule, though, for once, and thresh this thing out. I want your opinion onthis Graham matter, really. Tell me, please. "

"Don't ask me, " repeated the girl. "You'd remember what I said--and itwouldn't do any good. Let's forget it. "

"Of course I'd remember. I want to remember, " pressed the man. "You thinkI ought to accept?"

A moment the girl hesitated; then she looked him fair. 

"Yes, " she said simply. 

"And why? Tell me exactly why, please? You're not afraid to tell meprecisely what you think. "

"No, I'm not afraid; but I think you ought to realize it without myputting it in words. "

Armstrong looked genuine surprise. 

"I suppose I ought--probably it's childishly obvious, but--tell me, Elice. "

"To put it selfishly blunt, then, since you insist, I think you ought tofor my sake. If an income you can depend upon means nothing in particularto you you might consider what it would mean to me. "

Unconsciously the lounging figure of the man in the chair straighteneditself. The drawl left his voice. 

"Since we have stumbled upon this subject, " he said quietly, "let's getto the bottom of it. I think probably it will be better for both of us. Just what would it mean to you, that five thousand dollars a year?"

"Don't you know, Steve, without my telling you?"

"Perhaps; but I'd rather you told me unmistakably. "

As before the girl hesitated, longer this time; involuntarily she drewfarther back until she was completely hidden in the shadow. 

"What it means to me you can't help knowing, but I'll repeat it if youinsist. " She drew a long breath. Her voice lowered. "First of all, itwould mean home, a home of my own. You don't know all that that meansbecause you're a man, and no man really does understand; but to a womanit's the one thing supreme. You think I've got one now, have had all mylife; but you don't know. Father and I live here. We keep up appearancesthe best we can; we both have pride. He holds his position in theUniversity; out of charity every one knows, although no one is cruelenough to tell him so. We manage to get along somehow and keep the rooftight; but it isn't living, it isn't home. It's a perpetual struggle tomake ends meet. His time of usefulness is past, as yours will be pastwhen you're his age; and it's been past for years. I never admitted thisto a human being before, but I'm telling it to you because it's true. We've kept up this--fight for years, ever since I can remember, it seemsto me. We've never had income enough to go around. I haven't had a newdress in a year. I haven't the heart to ask for it. Everything I have hasbeen darned and patched and turned until it won't turn again. It isn'tpoverty such as they have on the East Side, because it isn't frank andopen and aboveboard; but it's genteel poverty in the best street of thetown: University Row. It's worse, Steve, because it's unadmitted, eternally concealed, hopeless. It isn't a physical hunger, but again aworse one: an artistic hunger. I'm a college graduate with letters on theend of my name when I choose to use them. I've mixed with people, seenthe niceties of life that only means can give, couldn't help seeing them;and they're all beyond my reach, even the common ones. If I didn't knowanything different I shouldn't feel the lack; but I do know. I'm not evento blame for knowing. It was inevitable, thrust upon me. I'm the hungrychild outside the baker's window. I can look and look--and that is all. "

The voice ceased. Frankly, unhesitatingly, the face came out of theshadow and remained there. 

"I think you understand now what I mean, Steve, unmistakably. I suppose, too, you think me selfish and artificial and horrid, and I shan't denyit. I am as I am and I want things. To pretend that I don't would be tolie--and I won't lie to you whatever happens. I simply won't. We bothknow what your place in the University means; I perhaps better than you, because I've seen my father's experience. I don't often get bitter, but Icome very near it when I look back and think how my mother had to planand scrimp. I feel like condemning the whole University to the bottomlesspit. I suppose Margery Randall would resent it if I told her so, buthonestly I pity her; the more so because I've always envied her in a way. She's not used to denying herself anything, and there's bound to be areckoning. It's inevitable, and then--I don't like to think of how itwill be then. It's a tragedy, Steve, nothing more or less. "

Opposite the man sat motionless in his place looking at her. All trace ofhis usual lounging attitude was absent. He was not even smoking. Foralmost a full minute after she was done he sat; then he arose abruptly. This time he did not offer to come over to her. 

"So this is the way you feel, " he commented at last, slowly. "It's a newphase of you entirely, Elice, that I admit; but at least I'm glad to knowit. " He thrust his hands deep into his pockets. "In plain English, you'dbarter my position and ambition gladly for--things. Frankly I didn'tthink that of you, Elice, before. I imagined I knew you better, knewdifferent. "

Responsive, instinctively the girl started to rise. Her breath camequick. Swiftly following came second thought and she sank back, back intothe shadow. She said nothing. 

A moment the man waited, expecting an answer, a denial, something; whennothing came he put on his hat with meaning deliberation. 

"I repeat I'm very glad you told me, though, even if I do have toreadjust things a bit. " He shrugged his shoulders. Despite the woundedegotism that was urging him on, it was the first real cloud that hadarisen on the horizon of their engagement and he was acutelyself-conscious. "Rest assured, however, that I shall consider your pointof view before I say yes or no to Graham. Just now--" He halted, clearedhis throat needlessly; abruptly, without completing the sentence orgiving a backward glance, he started down the walk. "Good-night, Elice, "he said. 

CHAPTER III

PLEASURE

"The trouble with you, Darley, " said Armstrong, "is that you took yourcourse in the University in too big doses. You went on the principle thatif a little grinding is good for a man a perpetual dig must be a greatdeal better. " He was in the best of humor this Sunday night, and smiledat the other genially. "A college course is a good deal like strychnine. Taken in small doses over a long period of time it is a great tonic. Swallowed all at once--you know what happens. "

From her place in a big easy chair Elice Gleason watched with interestthe result of the badinage, but Roberts himself made no comment. 

"You started in, " continued Armstrong, "to do six years' work infour--and did it. You were a human grinding machine and you ground veryfine, that I'll admit; but in doing so you missed a lot that was morevaluable, a lot that while it doesn't make credit figures in the sumtotal of university atmosphere. "

"For instance?" suggested the other, laconically. 

"Well, for one thing, you never joined a fraternity. I know, " quickly, "that the frats are abused, as every good thing is abused, butfundamentally they're good. When it comes to humanizing a man, roundinghim out, which is the purpose of college life, they're just as essentialas a course in the sciences. "

"Unfortunately, " commented Roberts, drily, "the attitude of a student tothe Greeks is a good deal like that of woman to man. She can't marryuntil she is asked. I was likewise never sufficiently urged. "

"In that case, " laughed Armstrong, "I'll have to acquit you on thatcount. There wasn't, however, anything to prevent you warming upsocially. No student has to be asked to do that. You and Elice, forinstance, took your courses at the same time. Normally you would have metat social doings on a hundred occasions; and still you have never reallydone so until to-night, several years after you were graduated. You can'tsquare yourself on that score. "

"No, " acquiesced Roberts with judicial slowness; "and still a man withone suit of clothes and that decidedly frayed at the seams labors underappreciable social disadvantages even in a democratic university. " Hesmiled, a tolerant, reminiscent smile. "I recall participatingtentatively a bit early in my career, but the result was not entirely asuccess. My stock went below par with surprising rapidity; so I took itoff the market. "

Armstrong glanced at the listening girl swiftly. Purposely he was tryingto draw the other man out--and for her benefit. But whatever the girl wasthinking her face was non-committal. He returned to the attack. 

"All right, " he shifted easily; "we'll pass charge number two likewise. One thing at least, however, you'll admit you could have done. You mighthave taken up athletics. You were asked often enough, I knowpersonally--nature did a lot for you in some things; and as forclothes--the fewer you have in athletics the better. You could have mixedthere and warmed up to your heart's content. Isn't it so?"

This time Roberts laughed. 

"I was engaged in athletics--all the time I was in the University, " herefuted. 

"The deuce you were! I never knew before--All right, I bit. How was that, Darley?"

"Simple enough, I'm sure, " drily. "I venture the proposition that I sawedmore wood and stoked more furnaces during my course than any otherstudent that ever matriculated. I had four on the string constantly. "

Armstrong sank back in his chair lazily. 

"All right, Darley, " he accepted; "when you won't be serious there's nouse trying to make you so. I surrender. "

"Serious!" Roberts looked at the younger man peculiarly. "Serious!" heechoed low. "That's just where your diagnosis fails, my friend. It's theexplanation as well why I never did those 'other things, ' as you callthem, that students do and so humanize themselves. " Involuntarily hiseyes went to the girl's face, searched it with a glance. "It is, Isuppose, the curse of my life: the fact that I can't be different. I seemto be incapable of digressing, even if I want to. "

For answer Armstrong smiled his sceptical smile; but the girl did notnotice. Instead, for the first time, she asked a question. 

"And you still think to digress, to enjoy oneself, is not serious, Mr. Roberts?" she asked. 

"No, emphatically not. I'm human, I hope, even if I haven't beenhumanized. I think enjoyment of life by the individual is its chief end. It's nature. "

"But you said--"

"Pardon me, " quickly; "I couldn't have made myself clear then. We're eachof us a law unto himself, Miss Gleason. What is pleasure to me, perhaps, is not pleasure to you. I said I was never asked to join a fraternity. It's true. It's equally true, though, that I wouldn't have joined had Ibeen asked. So with the social side. I wouldn't have been a society manif I'd had a new dress suit annually and a valet to keep it pressed. Isimply was not originally bent that way. Killing time, politely calledrecreation, merely fails to afford me pleasure. For that reason I avoidit. I claim no credit for so doing. It's not consecration to duty at all, it's pure selfishness. I'm as material as a steam engine. My pleasurecomes from doing things; material things, practical things. For a givenperiod of time my pleasure is in being able to point to a given objectaccomplished and say to myself: there, 'Darley, old man, you started outto do it and you've done it. ' Is that clear, Miss Gleason?"

"And if you don't accomplish it, what then?" commented Armstrong. 

"I shall at least have tried, " returned the other, carelessly. "I cancall the attention of Saint Peter to that fact. "

Armstrong leaned back farther in his chair. His eyes sought the ceilingwhimsically. 

"That would naturally bring up the old problem, " he philosophized, "ofwhether it were better to attempt to do a thing and fail or not to makethe attempt and retain one's self-confidence. "

In her place the girl shifted restlessly, as though the digressionannoyed her. 

"To return to the starting point, " she said, "you think the greatestpleasure in life is in action, not in passive sensation? We lazyfolks--"

"Pardon me, " interrupted Armstrong, "but I want to anticipate and enteran objection. Some of us aren't lazy. We're merely economical of ourenergies. "

"We lazy folks, " repeated the girl, evenly, "are sometimes inclined tothink differently. "

This time Roberts hesitated, his face a blank as he studied the twobefore him. Just perceptibly he leaned forward. His big hands closed onthe chair arms. 

"Are you really interested in hearing the definition of pleasure as Ihave formulated it for myself, Miss Gleason?" he asked; "I repeat, as Ihave formulated it for myself?"

"Yes. "

Again Roberts hesitated, his face inscrutable, his body motionless as oneasleep. 

"Pleasure, " he began low, "is power; conscious, unquestionable, superiorpower. In a small way we all experience it when we are hungry and havethe ability to satisfy that hunger. The big animal feels it when thelesser animal is within its reach and the big animal knows it. The lovertastes it when he knows another returns that love completely, irresistibly--knows, I say. The student comprehends it when he isconscious of ability to solve the problem presented, to solve itunqualifiedly. The master of men realizes it when those in his commandobey him implicitly; when his word is law. Pleasure is not necessarily anexercise of that power, in fact is not generally so; but it lies in theconsciousness of ability to exercise it at will. For the big animal toannihilate the less would bring pain, not pleasure. Hunger satisfied ispassivity, not pleasure. And so on down the list. Superior, consciouspower exercised defeats its own purpose. It is, as men say, unsportsmanlike. Held in reserve, passive, completely under control, itmakes of a human being a god. This to me is pleasure, Miss Gleason. "

For a moment after he ceased speaking the room was quiet. Armstrong stillsat staring at the ceiling; but the smile had left his lips. The girl waswatching the visitor frankly, the tiny pucker, that meant concentration, between her eyebrows. Roberts himself broke the silence. 

"You've heard my definition, Miss Gleason, " he laughed; "and no doubtthink me a savage or something of that kind. I shan't attempt to deny itif you do either. Just as a matter of curiosity and of interest, though, so long as the subject is up, I'd like to hear your own definition. " Of asudden he remembered. "And yours, too, Armstrong, " he added. 

The wrinkle vanished from the girl's forehead. She smiled in turn. Anobserver might have said she sparred for time. "After you, Steve, " sheaccepted. 

Armstrong shifted in his seat elaborately. 

"This is indeed a bit sudden, " he remarked in whimsical commonplace, "however--" His hands went into his pockets automatically. His eyesfollowed a seam on the paper overhead back and forth, before haltingpreparatorily. 

"Pleasure with me, " he began, "is not practical, but very much thereverse. " His lips twitched humorously. "Neither has it reference to anysuperior power. I wouldn't give one single round penny, providing I hadit, to be able to whistle and have a thousand of my fellows dance to thetune--against their wishes. If I could whistle so sweetly or soenchantingly that they'd caper nimbly because they wanted to, because thecontagion was irresistible, then--" The whimsical look passed as suddenlyas it had come. "Pleasure with me, I think, " he continued soberly, "meansappreciation by my fellow-men, in big things and in little things. I'm akind of sunflower, and that is my sun. I'd like to be able to playmarbles so well that the kids would stare in amazement; to fashion suchentrancing mud pies that the little girls would want to eat them; to playball so cleverly that the boys would always choose me first in making upsides; to dance so divinely that the girls would dream about itafterward; to tell so entertaining a story that men would let theircigars go dead while they listened, or under different circumstances theladies would split their gloves applauding--if they happened to have themon; last of all, to write a novel so different and interesting that thereading public, and that means every one, would look on the cover afterthey'd turned the last sheet to see who the deuce did it; then trim thelamp afresh, loosen their collar comfortably and read it through again. This to me spells pleasure in capitals all the way through: plainappreciation, pure and simple, neither more nor less. "

[Illustration: "I'm tired of reading about life and hearing about life. Iwant to live it" (_Page 66_)]

Again silence followed, but a far different silence than before. Of thatdifference the three in the room were each acutely conscious; yet no onemade comment. They merely waited, waited until, without preface, the girlcompleted the tacit agreement. 

"And pleasure to me, " she said slowly, "means something different than itdoes to either of you. In a way, with you both pleasure is active. Withme it's passive. " She laughed shortly, almost nervously. "Maybe I'm lazy, I don't know; but I've worked so long that I'm weary to death ofcommonplace and repression and denial and--dinginess. I want to be a freeindividual and have leisure and opportunity to feel things, not to dothem. I'm selfish, hopelessly selfish, morbidly selfish; but I am as Iam. I'm like the plant that's raised in a cellar and can't leave becauseits roots are sunk there deep. I want to be transplanted perforce outinto the sunshine. I'm hungry for it, hungry. I've caught glimpses ofthings beyond through my cellar window, but glimpses only. I repeat, Iwant to feel unhampered. I know pretty things and artistic things when Isee them, and I want them: to wear, to live among, to look at. I want totravel, to hear real music, to feel real operas and know real plays--notimitations. I'm tired of reading about life and hearing about life. Iwant to live it, be a part of it--not a distant spectator. That is whatpleasure means to me now; to escape the tyranny of repression and ofpennies and be free--free!"

For the third time silence fell; a silence that lasted longer far thanbefore, a silence which each was loth to break. While she was speaking, at first Armstrong had shifted about in his chair restlessly; at thelast, his hands deep in his pockets, he had sat still. Once he had lookedat her, peculiarly, the tolerant half smile still on his lips; but shehad not returned the look, and bit by bit it vanished. That was all. 

For a minute perhaps, until it became awkward at least, the silencelasted--to be broken finally by the girl herself. Slowly she arose fromher seat and, tall, slender, deliberately graceful, came from her placein the shadow into the light. 

"I'm a bit ashamed to have brought out the family skeleton and aired itto-night, " she said evenly. Under drooping lids she looked from one facebefore her to the other swiftly. "I don't know why I did it exactly. I'ma bit irresponsible, I guess, to-night. We are all so, I think, attimes. " As deliberately as she did everything she took a seat. Her handsfolded in her lap. "If you'll forget it I'll promise not to offend in thesame way again. " She smiled and changed the subject abruptly. "I see bythe papers, " she digressed, "that at last we're to have a trolley line intown. The same authority informs us as well that you are the movingspirit, Mr. Roberts. "

"Yes. " It was the ordinary laconic, non-committal man of business whoanswered. A pause, then a significant amplification. "This is the age ofthe trolley. There are a hundred miles of suburban lines contracted foras well. No one will recognize this country as it is now ten yearshence. "

"And this suburban line you speak of--I suppose you're the spirit back ofthat too?" queried the girl. 

"Yes. " This time there was no amplification. 

"So that was what you had in mind the other night when we weretalking, --what you wouldn't tell me, " commented Armstrong, a shadefrostily. 

"One thing, yes. " Roberts ignored the tone absolutely. "I was not atliberty to make the announcement at that time. The deal was just closedlast night. "

Armstrong made no further comment, but his high spirits of the earlyevening had vanished not to return, and shortly thereafter Roberts aroseto go. Promptly, seemingly intentionally so, Armstrong followed. In thevestibule, his hat in his hand, by design or chance he caught thevisitor's eye. 

"Pardon me a moment, " he apologized, "I--forgot something. "

Perforce Roberts waited while the other man returned to the tiny librarythey had just vacated. The girl was standing within precisely as whenthey had left and, as Armstrong did not close the door, the visitor knewto a certainty that his presence as listener and spectator wasintentional. It was all a premeditated scene, the climax of the evening. 

"By the way, Elice, " said the actor, evenly, "I've been considering thatGraham offer carefully since I spoke to you about it the other night. "He did not look at her but stood twirling his hat judicially in his hand. "I tried to convince myself that it was for the best to accept; but Ifailed. I told him so to-day. "

There was a pause. 

"Yes, " suggested the girl. 

Another pause. 

"I hope you're not--disappointed, Elice. "

Still another pause, appreciable, though shorter than before. 

"No; I'm not disappointed, " replied the girl then. At last Armstrong hadglanced up and, without looking himself, the listener knew as well asthough he had seen that the speaker was smiling steadily. "I'm notdisappointed in the least, Steve. "

CHAPTER IV

UNCERTAINTY

It was ten minutes after three on the following afternoon when StephenArmstrong, in the lightest of flannels and jauntiest of butterfly ties, strolled up the tree-lined avenue and with an air of comfortableproprietorship wandered in at the Gleason cottage. A movable sprinklerwas playing busily on the front lawn and, observing that the surroundingsod was well soaked, with lazy deliberation he shifted it to a newquarter. As he approached the house a mother wren flitted away before hisface, and at the new suggestion he stood peering up at the angle underthe eaves for the nest that he knew was near about. Once, standing therewith the hot afternoon sun beating down upon him, he whistled inimitation of the tiny bird's call; nothing developing, he mounted thesteps and pulled the old-fashioned knocker familiarly. 

There was no immediate response and he pulled again; without waiting foran answer, he dropped into the ever-convenient hammock stretched besidethe door and swung back and forth luxuriously. Unconsciously, and for thesame reason that a bird sings--because it is carelessly oblivious ofanything save the happiness of the moment--he began whistling softly tohimself: without definite time or metre, subconsciously improvising. Perhaps a dozen times he swung back and forth; then the whistlingceased. 

"Anything doing at this restaurant this afternoon, Elice?" he plungedwithout preface. An expansive smile made up for the lack of conventionalgreeting. "I'm as hungry as those little wrens I hear cheeping up theresomewhere. "

The smile was contagious and the girl returned it unconsciously. 

"I believe you're always hungry, Steve Armstrong, " she commented. 

"I know it. I was born that way. "

"And you never grew up. "

"Physically, yes, unfortunately. Otherwise--I'm fighting to the lastditch. I believe about three of those cookies you make--and, by the way, they're much better than mother used to manufacture--will fill the void. Don't you hear that cheeping?"

The girl hesitated, disappeared, and returned. 

"Thank you, Elice. Sit down over there, please, where I can see you. Itmakes them taste better. That's right. Thank you, again. I'm going to paymy bill now by telling you your fortune. You're going to make a greatcook. "

"I wonder, " said the girl, enigmatically. 

"There's no question about it. And for good measure I'm going to retailthe latest gossip. What, by the way and as a preliminary, do you supposeI've been doing all day?"

"It's vacation. Fishing, I presume. "

"Stung! I did go fishing this morning--four o'clock, caught one too; butit was so small and innocent looking that I apologized and threw it back. That wasn't what I referred to, however. You'll have to guess again. "

"I haven't the slightest idea. "

"I'm compelled to assist you then. I've been helping the Randalls settle. Harry 'phoned me early this morning and wanted to know if I didn't desireto be useful; said he would exchange compliments sometime. " A significantpause, then a reminiscent sigh. "Every vertebra in my spinal column acheswith an individual and peculiar pain. "

"They're really settled at last, are they?" inquired the girl, interestedly. "I can hardly wait to see how things look. "

"I don't blame you for being curious, Elice, " sympathized Armstrong. "Ifelt a bit the same way myself. " A rueful grin. "Merely among ourselves, however, and as a word of advice between friends, you'd better curb yourimpatience for about a week longer. "

"And why? You're darkly mysterious, as usual. "

"Mysterious! Heavens, no; merely compassionate. " He held up his hand forinspection. "Look at that blister. It's as big as a dime and feels like aprune. They're not done yet and they'd induce you to duplicate it if theyever got you into their clutches. So long as it's all in the family Ithink one blister is about sufficient. Better lay low for a weekanyway. "

"Steve, " the voice was severe, "you're simply impossible. They'd neverforgive you if they knew you talked that way. "

"Yes, they would, " easily. "I promised to come back and help complete thejob. " Of a sudden he laughed boyishly, reminiscently. "Seriously, Elice, I've had a memorable day. " He laughed again. "Pardon me, but I've wantedto do that for hours and didn't dare. Such a mixture of furnishings asthose two people have accumulated you never saw brought together underone roof before in your life. "

"Mixture, how? I fail to see the joke. "

"You will when you visit them, all right. I warn you in advance to bediscreet. " He looked at his companion with whimsical directness. "You seeit was this way. They started out together to buy things, with Margery atthe helm. She's not accustomed particularly to consider cost and went atthe job with avidity. She's methodical also, you know, and began at thefront door. In fancy she entered the reception hall, and the first needthat appealed to her was a rug. She picked out one. It's Oriental, and abeauty: cost one hundred dollars if a cent. Next, in her mind's eye, shenoticed the bare windows--curtains were required, of course. So sheselected them. They're the real thing and two pairs--another hundred, I'll wager. Following came three or four big leather chairs--nothingbetter in town. I can fancy old Harry's heart sinking by this time; buthe didn't say a word--yet. Margery took another spurt and went on to theliving-room. In consequence another big rug--and another hundredwithdrawn from circulation. A jolly big davenport--more curtains;--andthen something happened. They told me so, but I didn't need to be told;for it was then that Harry butted in. They were bankrupt already, and heknew it. He simply had to call a halt. It's the funniest contrast I eversaw, and pathetic too; for from this point on the whole house is anightmare. Cheap! he bought the cheapest things he could find and eventhen he got scared. By the time they got through the dining-room he musthave been a nervous wreck, for the kitchen and upstairs furniture issecond-hand, every stick and frying pan; and even then--" The humor leftthe speaker's face. "It's a shame to make fun of it, though, Elice. They're going to replace it all as soon as they can. "

For a moment neither said anything. 

"And Margery?" suggested the girl at last. 

"That's where the little tragedy crops out. You see we began the way shehad begun--at the front door. She was pleased as a boy with new boots atthe reception hall. Still cheerful over the living-room. Non-committal inthe diner. From there on Harry and I carted things upstairs and juggledwith them alone and according to our own ideas. "

For the second time there was silence; then, low-voiced, came anothersuggestion. 

"And--Harry?"

"He's game, " admiringly. "He may be thinking a lot--I've no doubt he is;but he's not letting out a peep or making a sign. He pretended Margerywas just tired out and bundled her out of doors under the trees. That'sone thing they've got at least: a whole yard full of grandfather elms. Hesort of looked at me cross-eyed while he was doing it to see if I caughton, but I was blind as a post. By the way, I nearly forgot to mention it, but you and I are invited there for dinner this coming Thursday--sort ofa house-warming and appreciation of my efforts combined. "

"For dinner, so soon?" The girl stared incredulously. "I don't believeMargery ever cooked a meal in her life. "

"She isn't going to try to yet, she informed me, so be of good cheer. That sort of thing is all to come later on, with the replaced furniture. At present she's to have a maid and take observations. " The speakerlaughed characteristically. "I asked her if she referred to the sort ofindividual my mother used to call a hired girl, but she stuck to 'maid. 'It seems they are to pay her six dollars a week. Hired girls only commandfour. "

Elice Gleason joined in the laugh sympathetically. The other's goodspirits was irresistible. 

"You seem to have been gathering valuable data, " she commented drily. 

"I have indeed. I couldn't well help it. I was even forced into theconviction that it was intended I should so gather. " He smiled into hiscompanion's eyes whimsically. "They're deep, those Randalls. After all issaid I fancy my assistance was acquired not so much from any desire tosave as to point a valuable object lesson; scatter the contagion, as itwere. " He paused meaningly and smiled again. "Elice mine, we're in gravedanger, you and I. That worthy pair have designs upon our future. Theyare in the position of a certain class, famed in adage, who desirecompany. The dinner is only another illustration of the same point. "

Elice Gleason returned the smile, but quietly. She made no furthercomment, however, and the subject dropped. 

In the hammock Armstrong swung back and forth in lazy well-being. Overhead the mother wren, a mere brown shadow, flitted in return overtheir heads. There was an instant's clamor from hidden fledglings, andsilence as the shadow passed back once more into the sunshine. Watchingthrough half-closed eyes, comfortably whimsical, Armstrong gazed intospace where the shadow had vanished. 

"What a responsibility the care of a family must be, " he commented, "particularly in this hot weather. That wren certainly has mysympathy--and respect. " He paused to give the swinging hammock a freshimpulse. "I wonder though, " he drifted on, "that is, if it is permissibleto tangle up a variety of thoughts, if it's any harder than it is toattempt to pull an idea out of one's self by the roots and work it upinto readable form with the thermometer above ninety in the shade--Iwonder. "

Elice Gleason was observing him now, peculiarly, understandingly. 

"How is the book coming, anyway, Steve?" she asked directly. 

"Which book?" smilingly. 

"_The_ book, of course. "

"They're all _the_ books--or were at one time. " A trace, the first, ofirony crept into his voice. "To be specific, however, masterpiece numberone has just completed its eighteenth round trip East, and is taking adeserved rest. Masterpiece number two is _en route_ somewhere betweenhere and New York, either coming or going, on its eleventh journey. Number three has only five tallies to its credit--but hope springseternal. Number four, the baby, still adolescent, has temporarily haltedin its growth while I succor a needy benedict friend in distress. Ibelieve that covers the family. "

The characterization was typically nonsensical; but, sympathetic, thelistener read between the sentences and understood. 

"Isn't the new one coming well?" she asked low. "Tell me, Steve, honest. "

"Coming well, Elice! What a question to ask of probably America'sforemost living writer!" The speaker was still smiling. "Whatreprehensible misgiving, suspicion even!" Sudden silence, wherein bit bybit the smile faded. Silence continued until in its place came a newexpression, one that changed the boy's face absolutely, made it a man'sface--and not a young one at that. 

"Coming well, Elice?" he repeated. "Honest, as you say, I don't know. "The hammock had become still, but the speaker did not notice, merelylying there looking up into the sunshine and the blue unseeingly. "Sometimes I think it is, and then again--if one could only know aboutsuch things, know, not hope--of course every writer in his own soulfancies--and his friends, for that matter, are just about as useful--"The speaker drew himself together with a shrug. For an instant his jawlocked decisively. 

"I know I'm more or less irresponsible, as a rule, Elice, " he analyzedswiftly, "and probably create the impression that I'm even moreirresponsible than I am; but in this thing, at least, I'm serious. Fromthe bottom of my soul I want to write well, want to. As I said before, sometimes I think I can--auto-intoxication maybe it is, I don't know--andI'm as happy as a child, or a god, or a bird, or any completely happything you can fancy. Then again, as it's been the past week, or the pastmonth for that matter, I don't seem to be able to do anything new. On topof this everything I've already done fairly personifies and leers at me. I get so that I fairly hate myself for the utter failure that I am, thatat least I have been so far. I get to analyzing myself; I can't help it, and the result isn't pleasant. I've been doing so lately. I don'toverestimate myself in the least, Elice girl. Practically, commercially, I'm a zero. I'm simply not built that way. If I'm ever of any use in theworld, ever amount to anything whatever, it will be in an impractical, artistic way. Whether I'll ever win out so--oh, for light, for light!. .. Frankly, the new novel is going badly, Elice, cursedly bad!"

"I'm sorry, Steve. You know--"

"Yes, I know. "

"I've believed always, and still believe--"

"Yes, I know that too. "

"You've got it in you to win; I know it, and you know it. You've donegood work already, lots of it, and--"

"Wade into him and lick him!" bitterly. "He's only three sizes largerthan you are, and afraid--I know you can lick him. Wade in!"

The girl said nothing. 

"Forgive me, Elice, " with quick contrition. "That was nasty of me, Iconfess. But I'm sore to-day, raw. It's genius I suppose, " sarcastically, "genius unappreciated. "

Still the girl said nothing. 

"If I could only get a ray of light, a lead, the flutter of a signal fromoutside the wall. But I keep hammering my head at it day after day, andit remains precisely as it was years ago when I began. It's maddening. "

Yet the girl was silent, waiting silent. 

"And, last of all, if I should eventually succeed, should break throughinto my own, as Darley Roberts says, even then--from any point of viewit isn't a cheerful prospect. "

"As Mr. Roberts says? What was that, Steve?"

"I referred to the reward, pecuniary reward. He figured it out in dollarsand cents once when he wanted to bring me out of the clouds. Looking atit that way, there isn't much to the game even for the winners, Elice. "

"Not much if you win? I can't believe it, Steve. I always supposed--"

"Everybody does. The public, the uninitiated, are long on supposing. Eventhe would-be's like myself delude themselves and build air castles untilsome hard-headed friend calls the turn. Then--no; there really isn't muchin it, Elice; nothing in comparison to the plums in the business world. That job of Graham's, for instance, offers greater possibilities thansuccess even, and when it comes to partial success or failure! It's ajoke, the artistic temperament in this commercial twentieth century, atremendous side-splitting joke! One nowadays should be born with suckerson his fingers, such as a fly has on its feet, so that whenever he cameinto the vicinity of a bank note it would stick fast. That would be theideal condition, the greatest natural blessing, now!"

"You know you don't mean that, Steve. It's hot and you're out of the moodto-day--that's all. To-morrow will be different; you'll see thingsstraight again. "

"Thank you, Elice. You're right, as usual. I said I was raw to-day. It'sboyish to be so too, I realize that. But it's hard sometimes, deucedlyhard, when others are doing something and getting somewhere to seeyourself standing still. One gets to thinking and imagining things thatprobably don't exist. " He took a long breath. "It's this thing ofimagination that's worse than reality. It crawls in between everythingso; and somehow you can't keep it out. It gives one a scare. " He laughedshortly, ill at ease. "It even makes one doubt a little the people onebelieves in most: take you and me, for instance. In my sane moments Iknow nothing could get between us; but sometimes I get toimagining--times like the last few days when I am--raw--that we'regradually drifting apart. A little difference of opinion comes up andimagination magnifies until it becomes a mountain and--I know I'mpreposterous, Elice, and there's nothing really to it, but the thing'sbeen on my mind and I wanted to tell you and get it out of my system. " Hehad hurried on, leading up to the point, making the situationdeliberately. Now he turned to her, smiling frankly. "It's preposterous, isn't it, Elice? Tell me so. I like to hear you say it. "

"Preposterous, Steve?" The girl returned the look, but for some reason, probably one she herself could not have told, she did not smile. Shemerely looked at him, steadily, unwaveringly. "I have never thought ofthe possibility before, never questioned. Certainly nothing has comebetween us. To imagine--I never imagine the unpleasant, Steve. "

The figure in the hammock shifted restlessly, as though but halfsatisfied. 

"And nothing ever will, Elice?" he pressed. "Say that just to please me. I think an awful lot of you, girl; so much that at times I'm afraid. "

This time the girl smiled, quietly, very quietly. 

"And I of you, Steve, " she echoed. "Must I protest that?"

"No, " swiftly, "not for an instant. I don't doubt, mind. .. . It's all thatcursed imagination of mine. I was only thinking of the future. If thingsshouldn't come my way, shouldn't--I put it at the worst possible--if byany chance I should remain a--failure such as I am now--you wouldn'tmind--would overlook--it wouldn't make any difference at all with you andme, would it, Elice?"

"Steve, you mustn't say such things--mustn't, I say. It's morbid. I won'tlisten. "

"But tell me, " passionately, "what I asked. I want to hear you say it. Iwant to know. "

For an instant the girl was silent, an instant that seemed minutes to theexpectant listener. For the second time she met him eye to eye. 

"Whether or not you become famous as a writer, " she said slowly, "won'tmake any difference in the least. It's you I care for, Steve; you as youare now and nothing more. " The voice paused but the eyes did not shift. "As for the future, Steve man, I can't promise nor can you. To do sowould be to lie, and I won't lie. I say I love you; you as you are. Ifanything ever should come between us, should, I say--you suggested itand--persist--it will be because of a change in you yourself. " For thesecond time she halted; then she smiled. "I think that's all there is tosay, " she completed. 

"All!" With a buoyancy unfeigned the man swung out of the hammock uponhis feet. "That's just the beginning. You're just getting under way, Elice. "

"No, " peremptorily; "all--for the present at least. It's four o'clock ofthe afternoon, you know, and the neighbors have eyes like--Look at thesun shine!. .. You've scared away the wren too, and the brood is hungry. Besides it's time to begin dinner. Cooks shouldn't be hindered ever. " Sheturned toward the door decisively. "You may stay if you don't botheragain, " she smiled over her shoulder. "Meanwhile there's a new 'Life' anda July 'Century, '--you know where, " and with a final smile she was gone. 

CHAPTER V

CERTAINTY

Four months had drifted by; again the University was in full swing. 

Of an evening in late October at this time, in the common living-roomwhich joined the two private rooms in the suite occupied by himself andDarley Roberts, Stephen Armstrong was alone. It was now nearly eleveno'clock, and he had come in directly after dinner, ample time to haveprepared his work for the next day; but as yet he had made no move inthat direction. On the roll-top desk, with its convenient drop light, wasan armful of reference books and two late scientific magazines. They werestill untouched, however, bound tight by the strap with which they hadbeen carried. 

But one sign of his prolonged presence was visible in the room. That, aloose pile of manuscript alternately hastily scribbled and painfullyexact, told of the varying moods under which it had been produced;--thatand a tiny pile of cigarette stumps in the nearby ash-tray, somescarcely lit and others burned to a tiny stump, which had become themanuscripts' invariable companion. 

For more than an hour now, however, he had not been writing. The nightwas frosty and he had lit the gas in the imitation fireplace. The openflame had proved compellingly fascinating and, once stretched comfortablyin the big Turkish rocker before it, duty had called less and lessinsistently and there he had remained. For half an hour thereafter he hadscarcely stirred; then, without warning, he had risen. On the mantelabove the grate was a collection of articles indigenous to a bachelor'sden: a box half filled with cigars, a jar of tobacco, a collection ofpipes, a cut-glass decanter shaded dull red in the electric light. It wastoward the latter that he turned, not by chance but with definitepurpose, and without hesitation poured a whiskey glass level full. Therewas no attendant siphon or water convenient and he drank the liquor rawand returned the glass to its place. It was not the quasi-æsthetictippling of comradery but the deliberate drinking of one with a cause, real or fancied, therefor and for its effect; and as he drank he shiveredinvoluntarily with the instinctive aversion to raw liquor of one to whomthe action has not become habitual. Afterward he remained standing for amoment while his eyes wandered aimlessly around the familiar room. As hedid so his glance fell upon the pile of text-books, mute reminder of alecture yet unprepared, and for an instant he stood undecided. With acharacteristic shrug of distaste and annoyance, of dismissal as well, heresumed his seat, his slippered feet spread wide to catch the heat. 

Another half-hour passed so, the room silent save for the deliberateticking of a big wall clock and the purr of the gas in the grate; at lastcame an interruption: the metallic clicking of a latch key, the tramp ofa man's feet in the vestibule, and Darley Roberts entered. A moment afterentering the newcomer paused attentive, his glance taking in every detailof the all too familiar scene; deliberately, as usual, he hung up histop-coat and hat. 

"Taking it comfortable-like, I see, " he commented easily as he pulled upa second chair before the grate. "Knocked off for the evening, haveyou?"

"Knocked off?" Armstrong shrugged. "I hardly know. I haven't knocked onyet. I'm stuck in the mud, so to speak. "

Roberts drew the customary black cigar from his waistcoat pocket andclipped the end methodically. As he did so, apparently by chance, hisglance swept the mantel above the grate, and, returning, took in thetestimony of the desk with its unopened text-books and pile of scatteredmanuscript. Equally without haste he lit a match and puffed until theweed was well aglow. 

"Any assistance a friend can give?" he proffered directly. "We all gettangled at times, I guess. At least every one I know does. "

Armstrong's gaze left the fire and fastened on his companion peculiarly. 

"Do you yourself?" he asked bluntly. 

"Often. "

"That's news. I fancied you were immune. What, if I may ask, do you do atsuch times to effect your release?"

"Go to bed, ordinarily, and sleep while the mud is drying up. There'susually a big improvement by morning. "

"And when there isn't--"

Roberts smiled, the tight-jawed smile of a fighter. 

"It's a case of pull, then; a pull as though Satan himself were justbehind and in hot pursuit. Things are bound to give if one pulls hardenough. "

Armstrong's face returned to the grate. His slippered feet spread widerthan before. 

"I'm not much good at pulling, " he commented. 

Roberts sat a moment in silence. 

"I repeat, if I can be of any assistance--" he commented. "No butting in, you understand. "

"Yes, I understand, and thank you sincerely. I doubt if you can help anythough--if any one can. It's the old complaint mostly. "

"Publishers who fail to appreciate, I gather. "

"Partly. "

"And what more, may I ask?"

Armstrong stretched back listlessly, his eyes half closed. 

"Everything, it seems, to me to-night, every cursed thing!" Restless inspite of his seeming inertia he straightened nervously. His fingers, slender almost as those of a woman, opened and closed intermittently. "First of all, the manuscript of my new book came back this morning, theone I've been working on for the last year. The expressman delivered itjust after you left. That started the day wrong. Then came a successionof little things. Breakfast, with coffee stone-cold, and soggy rolls; Icouldn't swallow a mouthful. Afterward I cut myself shaving, and I waslate for lecture, and there was no styptic in the house, and I got downto my class with a collar looking as though I'd had my throat cut. Thelecture room was chilly, beastly chilly, and about half the men hadcolds. Every twentieth word I'd say some one would sneeze and interrupt. On top of this one chap on the front row had neglected to complete histoilet and sat there for half an hour manicuring his nails, every blessedone of the ten; I counted them, while I was trying to explain proximalprinciples. At noon we had some more of that abominable soup with carrotsin it. Carrots! I detest the name and the whole family; and we've hadthem every day now for a week. After lunch another big thing. I'd appliedfor position as lecturer in the summer school, applied early. Thepresident met me to-day and remarked casually, very casually, that theman for the place had already been selected. He was very sorry of course, but--Back at the department I found that Elrod, one of my assistants, wassick, and of necessity I had to take his place in the laboratory. Insidehalf an hour some bumpkin dropped an eight-ounce bottle of sulphurettedhydrogen. It spattered everywhere--and the smell! I feel like holding mynose yet. Later the water got stopped up, and for love or money noplumber--" The speaker paused, his shoulders lifted eloquently. "Butwhat's the use of itemizing. It's been the same all day long, one pettyrasp after another. To cap the climax Elice is out of town. She's got anEnglish class in a high-school in a dinky little burg out about twentymiles and goes out there every Thursday. I forgot this was the day untilI pulled the knocker. That's all, I guess, except that I'm here. "

Roberts smiled, the deliberate smile of tolerant understanding. 

"One of those days, wasn't it, " he commented sympathetically. 

"Yes, " shortly, "and it seems lately as though that was the only kind Ihad--seems as though it was not one but an endless succession. .. . It'sall so petty, so confoundedly petty and irritating, and the outlook forthe future seems so similar. " Of a sudden the speaker arose, selected abit of rice paper from the mantel, and began rolling a cigarette swiftly. The labor complete he paused, the little white cylinder between hisfingers. A moment he stood so, irresolute or intentionally deliberate;without apology or comment he poured a second glass of liquor even fullfrom the red decanter and drank it in silence. "On the square, Darley, "he blazed, "I expected a lot from that last book, banked on it; and it'sgone flat, like the others. " He resumed his seat and the cigaretteflamed. "I worked hard on it, did my level best. I don't believe I canever do any better--and now it's failed miserably. It knocks my pinsclean out from under me. "

For a time the room was quiet. Roberts did not smile this time, or offersympathy. The occasion for that had gone by. He merely waited in thefulness of knowledge, until the first hot flood of resentment had cooled, until the inevitable reaction that followed was on. Deliberate, direct tothe point, he struck. 

"You're satisfied I'm your friend, are you?" he asked abruptly. 

The other looked his surprise. 

"Emphatically, yes. One of the few I have--it seems to-night. "

"And I couldn't possibly have any selfish motive in--in tearing you loosefrom your moorings?"

"None whatever that I can imagine. Why?"

"You won't take offence either if I advise plainly?"

"No, I'm not a fool--yet. What is it, Darley, --your advice?"

Again Roberts paused, deliberately now, unemotionally. 

"My advice then is to chuck it, for to-day and to-morrow and all time:the University, this whole artistic rainbow, chuck it as though it werehot, red hot, and get down to earth. Is that brutally plain enough?"

Unconsciously Armstrong had sat up, expectant. A moment he remained so, taking in the thought, all its implications, its suddenly suggestedpossibilities; as the full revolutionary significance of the idea camehome of a sudden he dropped back in his place. With an effort he smiled. 

"To answer your question: yes, I think that is brutally frank enough, " hesaid. A moment longer he remained quiet, thinking, the idea expanding. "Chuck it, " he repeated half to himself. "It sounds sensible certainly, to-night particularly. " New thoughts came, thoughts like the sifting ofdead ashes. "Chuck it, " feverishly, "and admit incompetency, cowardice, failure absolute!" For the third time he was on his feet. "No, never. I'll go to the devil first. " His fingers were on the red decanter, hisbrown eyes aflame. "I'll--"

"Armstrong!"

No answer, although the fingers halted. 

"Steve!"

Still no answer; but bit by bit the hand retreated. 

"Steve, " repeated, "sit down, please; please, I say. Let's talk thismatter over a little rationally. People have changed their minds before, some few billions of them--and made good afterward too. Have a littlepatience, man, and sit down. I have a proposition to make to you. "

Reluctantly Armstrong obeyed. His face was still unnaturally pale and hewas breathing hard, but he obeyed. Back in his seat he waited a second, uncertain; with an effort he faced his companion fairly. 

"I--realize I'm an ass, Darley, " he began, hesitantly, "and that thissort of thing is melodramatically cheap. " The white had left his face nowand words were coming more easily. "I won't attempt to apologize, I justsimply admit the truth. I've lost my grip this evening. "

"Forget it. " The voice was commonplace. "Just forget it. "

"I can't; I'm not built that way; but I wish you would. If there's onething I hate more than another it's cheap heroics. "

"I know it--and understand. Let it go at that. "

"Thank you. All right. " It was matter of fact, but such with an effort. "Let's hear your proposition. "

As usual Roberts wasted no preface. 

"The suggestion is merely in line with what I said before. In so manywords, it's to throw up this place of yours in the University and getinto business. You'll come into contact with realities that way andrealities are eternally opposed to--cobwebs. You'll be happier and morecontented, I'm positive, once you get adjusted. " He gave his listener akeen look. "I've got an opening in mind right now. Say the word and I'llhave the place ready for you the day they appoint your successor in theUniversity. Do you care to consider it?"

"Consider, yes, certainly. " Armstrong had lit a pipe and puffed at itshortly. "It's white of you too to offer it. I know it's a good thing oryou wouldn't make the suggestion. "

"It's not as good as Graham's offer, " refuted the other evenly, "placeslike that don't dangle loose every day; but it will pay you better thana university chair, and it offers possibilities--you anticipateprobably, --it's in connection with the new electric line. Betweenourselves, Armstrong, this system is going to be a big thing when it'scomplete. This is a straight tip. I happen to be in a position to know. Ialso happen to be in position to put you very near the basement, providing you wish to come in with us unhampered. " The voice haltedmeaningly. "That's all I'm at liberty to say now, until you are really inand prove unmistakably--I'll have several things more to tell you then. "

"Don't misunderstand me, Darley, " he said slowly, "or take offence, please; but--but, to scrape off the veneer, you don't trust me very fareven yet, do you?"

There was a moment of silence, time for second thought. 

"I can't misunderstand what you mean, " said Roberts; "but unfortunatelythere are others besides yourself for me to consider. " The voice waspatient, unnaturally so. "I've already talked more than I should. "

"If I accepted, " unobservant, Armstrong's mind was running on in its ownchannel, "the place you mean would take my entire time. In a way itwould be like Graham's offer. I'd be compelled--you catch the idea, don'tyou?"

"Yes. " This time the other did not amplify. 

"You know why I refused that proposition before. We beat the brush prettythoroughly at that time. " It was declination involved, but declinationnevertheless unmistakable. "It's a rocky road I'm on, and with occasionalmudholes such as--well--such as I fell into to-night; but somehow I can'tleave it. I won't try to defend it this time. I'm not in the mood. Butwhen it comes to breaking free, taking a new trail--I simply can't do it, can't!"

"Very well. " The voice was non-committal. Waiting, Armstrong thoughtthere would be more to follow, a comment at least; but there was none. Roberts merely leaned back more comfortably in his place, remained so fora minute while like smoke the former subject faded from the horizon. Armstrong grew conscious that he was being observed intently. 

"By the way, " introduced Roberts, abruptly, "I've decided to give up myresidence here in the suburbs. They're remodelling the office buildingI'm in, you know: adding another floor, an elevator, and one thing andanother. I've rented a suite in the addition, to be fitted out aftersome ideas of my own. They'll begin on it inside a week. "

For a moment Armstrong said nothing. 

"I'm not particularly surprised, " he commented at last, "that is, notsurprised that you're going to quit me. It was merely a question of timeuntil this place we're living in here got too small for you. When willyou go?"

"The lease gives them a month to deliver. "

"A month. All right. " There was frost forming in the tone. "I'll try andlassoo another mate in that time. The place isn't particularlypretentious, but, nevertheless, I can't afford to inhabit it alone. " Hesmiled, but it was not his customary companionable smile. "You're on theincline and trudging up steadily, aren't you, old man?"

For an instant Roberts returned the look with the analytic one Armstrongknew so well. 

"I trust so, " he returned. A pause, again sufficient for second thought. "Looking into the immediate future I see a lot of grinding to be done, and I need machinery to do it with. This down town move is merely part ofthe campaign. "

"I see, " Armstrong ignored the explanation, even perverted itintentionally. "And the next installation of machinery will be in stoneout on Nob Hill among the other imitation colonial factories. When'sthat to be, if I may ask?"

Roberts said nothing. 

"When's it to be, Darley?" repeated Armstrong. "You have it in mind, haven't you?"

This time Roberts turned, his eyes unsmiling, his lips tight. 

"When have I offended you, and how, Armstrong?" he countered directly. "Tell me that. "

"Offended!" Roused out of his ill humor Armstrong flushed penitently. "You've never offended, never. On the contrary, you're only too patientwith my tantrums. " He jerked himself together impulsively. "I didn't meananything by that at all. I'm blooming glad to see you prosper. I alwaysknew you would. "

"The imitation colonial--factory then--" Roberts recalled slowly. 

"Just a dream, a fancy, an air castle. "

"No, a reality--I hope. "

"What?--a miracle! But how about the tape line?"

"I repeat: I hope. Hope always refers to the future--the indefinitefuture. "

Armstrong smiled broadly, shrugged. Banter tingled on the tip of histongue, but for some reason remained unspoken. Abruptly as it had arisenthe subject vanished beneath the surface. Merely the memory of thatsuggestion of things to come remained. 

In the silence Roberts glanced at the clock and arose preparatory to bed. Watching the familiar action, a new thought sprang full-fledged toArmstrong's brain, a sudden appreciation of the unconscious dependence hehad grown to feel on the other man. The thought took words. 

"On the square, old man, " he said soberly, "I hate to have you go. It'llbe beastly lonely here without you to sit down on me and make me feelfoolish. " He gestured in mute eloquence. "It means the end between youand me the moment you pack your trunk. We may both put up a bluff--butjust the same it's the end. "

Roberts halted thoughtfully where he stood. 

"The end? I wonder--and who will be to blame?"

"Neither of us, " swiftly. "It was inevitable. We'll simply drift apart. You recall I prophesied once before--"

"Yes, I recall. "

Armstrong started involuntarily. Another memory had intruded. 

"You remember--something else I predicted, do you?"

A slow smile formed on Roberts' lips. 

"You said that sometime we'd hate each other, in the same measure that wewere friends now. "

"Yes; and it's so. I feel it; why I don't know, can't imagine--yet. Butit will come about as surely as to-morrow will come. " He looked at hiscompanion steadily, unsmilingly prophetic. "Good-bye, friend DarleyRoberts. You're going--and you won't return. Good-bye. "

An instant Roberts stood as he was, motionless; then he turned swiftly. 

"You're morbid to-night, Armstrong, " he returned slowly. "In the morningthe sun will shine and the world will look very different. As for myleaving--you'll find another man who'll make a lot better mate than I am. I'm not a good fellow in the least. "

"I know it, " bluntly. "That's why you're good for me. " Unconsciously hisglance travelled to the mantel, and shifted hurriedly. "I'm a kind ofclinging vine, I guess. To change the figure of speech, I need a stiffrudder to keep me headed straight to windward. I'll--miss you, " simply. 

Roberts hesitated a moment, choosing his words carefully. 

"We can't very well always be together, though, " he suggested at lastslowly. 

"No, we can't. I realize it. It's--Pardon an ass and go to bed, oldman. "

For perhaps half a minute Roberts stood there, the fire from the opengrate lighting his face, his big capable hands loose at his sides. Hemade no motion to leave, nor for a space to speak; characteristicallyabrupt, he turned, facing his companion directly. 

"Armstrong, " he said, "I can't work up to things delicately and have themseemingly happen by chance. Nature didn't endow me with that ability. Ihave to come out with a broadside shot or not at all. I'm going to do sonow. Why don't you get married? Miss Gleason will be a better rudderimmeasurably than I am. "

Involuntarily Armstrong flushed, slowly the color faded. He saidnothing. 

"I know I'm intruding and offending, " went on the other; "you show that, but you said a bit ago I was your friend and the thing is on my mind. Believe this at least: I was never more your friend than when I advisethe move now. I repeat: why don't you get married, at once?"

"Why? You know why, Darley. It's the old reason--the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker. They still hold the fort. "

"No, not for you--unless you let them. Forgive another broadside. If youget pinched temporarily let a friend be of service. I'm not afraid totrust you. Anyway I chance it. We all have to chance something forhappiness. Don't delay any longer, man, don't!"

"Don't?" Of a sudden Armstrong glanced up and met the other's looksteadily. "Don't?" he repeated. "Why do you say that, please?"

A second Roberts met the lifted questioning eyes. 

"Because I meant it, " he said. "Please don't ask me to say more. "

"But I do ask it, " pressed Armstrong, stubbornly. "You meant somethingparticular by that, something I have the right to know. "

"Won't you consider what I suggested, " asked Roberts in a low tone;"merely consider it?"

"Perhaps after you tell me what you meant. Why 'don't, ' please?"

On the cosy room fell silence, --the silence of midnight; the longestsilence of that interrupted understanding. For a long while Roberts stoodprecisely as he was; he started walking, measuring the breadth of theroom and back again; something the watcher had never known him to dobefore, never in the years of acquaintance, no matter what theuncertainty or difficulty confronting. A second time he followed thetrail back and forth, until, watching him, the spectator felt at lastsomething like terror of the thing he had deliberately conjured and thatnow was inevitably coming very near; for at last Roberts had halted, wasstanding over him. 

"In all the time that I've known you, Armstrong, " said a voice, a newvoice, "you've asked my advice repeatedly, asked the reason for it, insisted that I explain minutely, and disregarded it absolutely. I'vetried to be honest with you each time, tried to be of service; and stillyou've disregarded. It's been the same to-night, the old, old story. I'vebeen dead in earnest, tried to be unselfish, and still you question anddoubt and insist. " A second the voice halted, the speaker glancing down, not analytically or whimsically, as usual, but of a sudden icy cold. "Youinsist now, against my request, and once more I'm going to humor you. Youwish to know what I meant by 'don't' delay. I meant just this, man, justthis and no more: Chances for happiness come to us all sometime in ourlives. They knock at our door and wait for us to open. Sometimes, notoften, they knock twice; but they don't keep on knocking forever. Thereare a multitude of other doors in the world and, after a while, opportunity, our opportunity, goes by, and never returns; no matter howloudly we call. Is that clear enough, man?"

"In the abstract, yes. " Armstrong's lips were dry and he moistened themunconsciously. "In the concrete, though, as it applies tomy--happiness--"

"God, you're an egotist, Armstrong! Is it possible you can't understand, or won't?"

Slowly, with an effort, Armstrong arose; his face of a sudden gray, hishands fastened to the back of his chair. 

"You mean to suggest that Elice, " he began, "that Elice--You dare tosuggest that to me?"

"Dare?"

They looked at each other, not three feet apart. 

"Dare?" Roberts repeated. 

"Darley!"

"Don't! I've argued, advised, used persuasion--everything. Take that as awarning if you wish, or disregard it if you choose. I'm done. "

On the chair back the fingers locked tighter and tighter, until they grewwhite. Tardy comprehension was coming at last. 

"You mean to warn me, " Armstrong scarcely recognized his own voice, "thatyou yourself--"

"Yes, I myself. That's why I warned you. "

"You yourself, " he repeated, "whom I introduced and took with me as myfriend, my best friend--you--Judas!"

"Re-introduced. " Roberts' eyes were as steady as his voice. "Re-introduced--mark that. Miss Gleason has forgotten, but she was thefirst girl I met in the University, when I had one suit of frayed clothesto my name, and my stock was below par. Miss Gleason has forgotten, Isay, had no reason to remember; but I--Nor--Judas; drop that for alltime. .. . I've warned you, you understand. "

"Darley!"

"No--Roberts. I'm no hypocrite. You've precipitated this understanding, compelled it; but perhaps it's as well. I'll move out of here to-morrowinstead of in a month, if you wish. Do you wish it?"

Bit by bit the hands on the chair back, that had been so tense, loosened, and Armstrong sank back in his seat, his face turned away. 

"I don't know--yet. " His fingers were twitching aimlessly. "I want tothink. .. . You, of all men, you!" He turned, his eyes ablaze, his voicethick. "Yes, go to-morrow, damn you! and as for your warning, do as youplease, get between us if you can. " He laughed raspingly. "I'lldelay--dangle, you catch that--as long as I see fit. I dare you. "

An instant Roberts stood as he was; slowly and without a word he startedfor his room. As he did so Armstrong arose swiftly and, all butgropingly, his hand sought the red decanter on the mantel. "I dare you, "he repeated blindly, "dare you!"

"Armstrong!" Roberts had halted, looking back. "Not for any one's sakebut your own--think a second, man. "

"To hell with you and thought!"

Without a sound this time or another glance the door to Roberts' roomopened and closed and Armstrong was alone. 

CHAPTER VI

A WARNING

With a dexterity born of experience Harry Randall looked up from hislabor of separating the zone of carbon from the smaller segment of chopthat had escaped the ravages of a superheated frying-pan and smiledacross the table at his wife. 

"On the contrary, " he said, refuting a pessimistic observation previouslymade by the person addressed, "I think you're doing fine. I can see adistinct improvement every month. On the whole you're really becoming anadmirable cook. "

"Undoubtedly!" The voice dripped with irony. "That very chop, forinstance--"

"Is merely a case in point, " amiably. "Some people, unscientific people, might contend that it was overdone; but the initiated--that's us--knowbetter. Meat, particularly from the genus hog, should always be wellcooked. It obviates the possibility of trichina infection absolutely. "

"And those biscuits, " equivocally. "I'll wager they'd sink like steelbillets. "

Her husband inspected the articles designated with a judicial eye. 

"Better so. We're thus saved the temptation of eating them. Allstatistics prove that hot biscuits and dyspepsia--"

"The salad, then, " wearily. 

"Hygienic beyond a doubt. The superabundance of seasoning to which youdoubtless refer may be unusual; nevertheless, it's a leaning in the rightdirection. Condiments of all kinds tend to stimulate the flow of thegastric juice; and that, you know, from your physiology, is what does thedigestive business. "

Margery Randall laughed, against her will. 

"And last of all the coffee, " she suggested. 

"Frankly, as coffee, it is a little peculiar; but considered as hot watermerely, it leaves nothing to be desired; and science teaches again that, like condiments, hot water--"

The two laughed together; temporarily the atmosphere cleared. 

"Seriously, Harry, " asked the girl, "do you really think I'll ever get soI can cook things that aren't an insult?" She swept the indigestiblerepast between them with a hopeless look. "I'm trying my best, but attimes like this I get discouraged. "

"Certainly you will, " with conviction. "Now this bread, for instance, " heheld up a slice to illustrate, "is as good as any one can make. "

"And unfortunately was one of the few things that I didn't make. It'sbakery bread, of course, silly. "

Randall dropped the offending staff of life as though it were hot. 

"These cookies, then. " He munched one with the pleasure of an epicure. "They're good thoroughly. "

"Elice Gleason baked them for me to-day, " icily. "She was here all theafternoon. "

An instant of silence followed; glancing half sheepishly across the boardRandall saw something that made him arise from his seat abruptly. 

"Margery, little girl, " his arms were around her. "Don't take it soseriously. It's all a joke, honest. " With practised skill he kissed awaythe two big tears that were rapidly gathering. "Of course you'll learn;every one has to have practice; and it's something you never did before, something entirely new. "

"That's just the point, " repeated the girl. The suddenly aroused tearshad ceased to flow, but she still looked the image of despondency. "It'ssomething I've never had to do, and I'll never learn. I've been tryingfor practically a year now and things get worse and worse. "

"Not worse, " hopefully; "you merely think so. You're just a bitdiscouraged and tired to-night--that's all. "

"I know it and, besides, I can't help it. " She was winking hard againagainst two fresh tears. "I spoiled two cakes this afternoon. Elice triedto show me how to make them; and I burned my finger"--she held up aswaddled member for inspection--"horribly. I just can't do thishousework, Harry, just simply can't. "

"Yes, you can. " Once more the two teary recruits vanished by the formermethod. "You can do anything. "

The girl shook her head with a determination premeditated. 

"No; I repeat that I've tried, and it's been a miserable failure. I--think we'll have to have the maid back again, for good. "

"The maid!" Randall laughed, but not so spontaneously as was normal. "Wedon't want a maid bothering around, Margery. We want to be alone. " He hada brilliant thought, speedily reduced to action. "How could I treatinjured fingers like this properly if there was a maid about?"

"There wouldn't be any burned fingers then, " refuted the girl. Intentionally avoiding the other's look, she arose from the neglecteddinner-table decisively and, the man following slowly, led the way to theliving-room. "Joking aside, " she continued as she dropped into aconvenient seat, "I mean it, seriously. I've felt this way for a longtime, and to-day has been the climax. I simply won't spend my lifecooking and dusting and--and washing dishes. Life's too short. "

From out the depths of the big davenport Harry Randall inspected steadilythe rebellious little woman opposite. He did not answer at once, it wasnot his way; but he was thinking seriously. To say that the presentmoment was a surprise would be false. For long, straws had indicated thetrend of the wind, and he was not blind. There was an excuse for theattitude, too. He was just enough to realize that. As she had said, shewas born differently, bred differently, educated to a life of ease. Andhe, Harry Randall, had known it from the first, knew it when he marriedher. Just now, to be sure, he was financially flat, several months aheadof his meagre salary; but that did not alter the original premise, theoriginal obligation. He remembered this now as he looked at her, remembered and decided--the only way it seemed to him possible anhonorable man could decide. 

"Very well, Margery, " he said gravely, "you may have the maid back, ofcourse, if you wish it. I had hoped we might get along for a time, whilewe were paying for the things in the house, anyway; but"--he lookedaway--"I guess we'll manage it somehow. "

"Somehow!" Margery glanced at him with only partial comprehension. "Is itreally as bad as that, as hopeless?"

Randall smiled the slow smile that made his smooth face seem fairlyboyish. 

"I don't know exactly what you mean by bad, or hopeless; but it's a factthat so far we've been spending a good deal more than my income. "

"I'm sorry, dear, really. " It was the contrition of one absolutelyunaccustomed to consideration of ways and means, uncomprehending. "Particularly so just now with winter coming on and--and girls, youknow, have to get such a lot of things for winter. "

This time Randall did not smile; neither did he show irritation. 

"What, for instance?" he inquired directly. 

"Oh, a tailored suit for one thing, and a winter hat, and high shoes, and--and a lot of things. "

"Do you really need them, Margery?" It was prosaic pathos, but pathosnevertheless. "There's coal to be bought, you know, and my life insurancecomes due next month. I don't want to seem to be stingy, you know that;but--" he halted miserably. 

"Need them!" It was mild vexation. "Of course I need them, silly. A girlcan't go around when the thermometer's below zero with net shirtwaistsand open-work stockings. "

"Of course, " quickly. With an effort the smile returned. "Order what youneed. I'll take care of that too"--he was going to repeat "somehow, " thencaught himself--"as soon as I can, " he substituted. 

The girl looked at him smilingly. 

"Poor old Harry, henpecked Harry, " she bantered gayly. Crossing over, herarms went around his neck. "Have an awful lot of troubles, don't you, professor man!"

The argument was irresistible and Randall capitulated. 

"No, none whatever, " he answered, as he was expected to answer; and oncemore sweet peace rested on the house of Randall. 

Back in her place opposite once more Margery looked at her husbandseriously, a pucker of perplexity on her smooth face. 

"By the way, " she digressed, "I've been wondering for some time now ifanything's wrong with Elice and Steve. Has he hinted anything to you?"

"No; why?"

"Oh, I don't know anything definite; but he's been here three eveningsthe last week, you know, Sunday evening for one at that, and it looksqueer. "

"I've noticed it too, " admitted Randall, "and he's coming again thisevening. He asked permission and I couldn't well refuse. Not that I don'tlike to have him come, " quickly, "but it interferes with my lectures nextmorning. "

"And with our own evenings. I--just wish he wouldn't come so often. "

Randall said nothing, but unconsciously he was stroking the bald spotalready appearing on the crown of his head in a way he had when worried. 

"And, besides, " justified Margery, "it isn't treating Elice right. Ithink it's a shame. "

This time the man looked up. 

"She didn't say anything, intimate anything, I hope?" he hesitated. 

"Of course not. It isn't her way. She's--queer for a woman, Elice is; shenever gets confidential, no matter how good an opportunity you offer. " Apause followed that spoke volumes. "Agnes Simpson, though, says there issomething the matter--with Steve at least. They're talking about it inthe department. "

"Talking about what, Margery?" soberly. "He's a friend of ours, youknow. "

"Yes, I know, " the voice was swift with a pent-up secret, "and we'vetried hard to be nice to him; but, after all, we're not to blame thathe--drinks!"

"Margery!" It was open disapproval this time, a thing unusual for HarryRandall. "We mustn't listen to such gossip, either of us. Steve and Ihave been chums for years and years and--we simply mustn't listen to suchthings at all. "

For an instant the girl was silent; then the brown head tossedrebelliously. 

"Well, I can't help it if people talk; and it isn't fair of you tosuppose that I pass it on either--except to you. You know that I--" shechecked herself. "It isn't as though Agnes was the only one either, " shedefended. "I've heard it several times lately. " Inspiration came and shelooked at her husband directly. "Honest, Harry, haven't you heard ittoo?"

The man hesitated, and on the instant solid ground vanished from beneathhis feet. 

"Yes, I have, " he admitted weakly. "It's a burning shame too that peoplewill concoct--" He halted suddenly, listening. His eyes went to theclock. "I had no idea it was so late, " he digressed as the bell rangloudly. "That's Steve now. I know his ring. "

Alone in the up-stairs study, which with its folding-bed was likewisespare sleeping-room and again smoking-room, --Margery had not yetsurrendered to the indiscriminate presence of tobacco smoke, --SteveArmstrong ignored the chair Randall had proffered and remained standing, his hands deep in his trousers' pockets, a look new to his friend--onerestless, akin to reckless--on his usually good-humored face. Contraryagain to precedent his dress was noticeably untidy, an impressionaccentuated by a two-days' growth of beard and by neglected linen. Thatsomething far from normal was about to transpire Randall knew at aglance, but courteously seemed not to notice. Instead, with a familiarwave, he indicated the cigar-jar he kept on purpose for visitors and tooka pipe himself. 

"I haven't had my after-dinner smoke yet, " he commented. "Better light upwith me. It always tastes better when one has company. "

"Thanks. " Armstrong made a selection absently and struck a match; but, the unlighted cigar in his fingers, let the match burn dead. "I don'tintend to bother you long, " he plunged without preface. "I know you wantto work. " He glanced nervously at the door to see that it was closed. "Ijust wanted to have a little talk with you, a--little heart-to-hearttalk. "

"Yes. " Randall's face showed no surprise, but his pipe bowl was aglow andhis free hand was caressing his bald spot steadily. 

"Frankly, old man, " the other had fallen back into his former position, his hands concealed, his attitude stiffly erect, "I'm in the deuce of aframe of mind to-night--and undecided. " He laughed shortly. "You're theremedy that occurred to me. "

"Yes, " Randall repeated, this time with the slow smile, "I am a sort ofremedy. Sit down and tell me about it. I'm receptive at least. "

"Sit down! I can't, Harry. " The restless look became one of positiverepugnance. "I haven't been able to for a half-hour at a stretch for aweek. "

"Try it anyway, " bluntly. "It won't do you any harm to try. "

"Nor any good either. I know. " He threw himself into a seat with anervous scowl upon his face. "I haven't been able to do any real work foran age, which is worse, " he continued. "My lectures lately have been adisgrace to the college. No one knows it better than myself. "

A moment Randall hesitated, but even yet he did not put an inquirydirect. 

"Yes?" he suggested again. 

"I'm stale, I guess, or have lost my nerve or--or something. " Armstrongsmiled, --a crooked smile that failed to extinguish the furrows on hisforehead. "By the way, have you got a little superfluous nerve lyingabout that you could stake me with?"

Randall echoed the laugh, because it seemed the only possible answer, butthat was all. 

In the silence that followed Armstrong looked at his friend opposite, thenervous furrow between his eyes deepening. 

"I suppose you're wondering, " he began at last, "just what's the matterwith me and what I want of you. Concerning the first, there's a lot Imight say, but I won't; I'll spare you. As to what I want to ask ofyou--Frankly, Harry, straight to the point and conventional reticenceaside, ought I to marry or oughtn't I?" He caught the other's expressionand answered it quickly. "I know this is a peculiar thing to ask andseems, looking at it from some angles, something I shouldn't ask; but youknow all the circumstances between Elice and me and, in a way, ourpositions are a good deal similar. Just what do you think? Don't hesitateto tell me exactly. "

In his seat Randall shifted uncomfortably; to gain time he filled hispipe afresh, --a distinct dissipation for the man of routine that he was. 

"Frankly, as you suggest, Steve, " he answered finally, "I'd rather notdiscuss the subject, rather not advise. It's--you know why--so big andpersonal. "

"I realize that and have apologized already for bringing it up; but Ican't decide myself--I've tried; and Elice--there are reasons why shecan't assist now either. It's--" he made a motion to rise, but checkedhimself--"it's something that has to be decided now too. "

"Has to?" Randall's eyes behind the big lens of his glasses were suddenlykeen. "Why, Steve?"

"Because it's now or never, " swiftly. "I've--we've hesitated until wecan't delay any longer. I'm not sure that it's not been too long already, that's why Elice can't figure. " He drew himself up with an effort, heldhimself still. "We've crossed the dividing line, Elice and I, and we'redrifting apart. Just how the thing has come about I don't know; but it'strue. We're on different roads somehow and we're getting farther apartevery month. " He sprang to his feet, his face turned away. "Soon--It'ssimply hell, Harry!"

Randall sat still; recollecting, he laughed, --a laugh that he tried tomake natural. 

"Oh, pshaw!" He laughed again. "You're mixing up some of the novelsyou're writing with real life. This sort of thing is nonsense, purenonsense. "

"No, it's so, " flatly. "I've tried hard enough to think it different, butI couldn't because it is so. It's hell, I say!"

"Don't you love her, man?" abruptly. 

"Love her!" Armstrong wheeled, his face almost fierce. "Of course I loveher. A hundred times yes. I'm a cursed fool over her. "

"Sit down then and tell me just what's on your mind. You're magnifying amole-hill of some kind into a snow-capped peak. Sit down, please. You--irritate me that way. "

A second Armstrong hesitated. His face a bit flushed, he obeyed. 

"That's better. " The brusqueness was deliberately intentional. "Now outwith it, clear the atmosphere. I'm listening. "

Armstrong looked at his friend a bit suspiciously; but the mood was toostrong upon him to cease now even if he would. 

"Just what do you wish to know?" he asked in tentative prelude. "Give mea clew. "

"What you wish to tell me, " evenly. "Neither more nor less. "

"You have no curiosity?"

Randall made no comment this time, merely waited. 

"Very well, then, if you have no curiosity. .. . I don't know how much totell you anyway, what you don't already know. As I said when I first camein, I didn't have it in mind to bore you at all, I just wanted to askyour opinion--" The speaker halted and hurriedly lit the cigar he hadbeen holding. "To jump into the thick of it, I got a little letter fromthe president to-day, a little--warning. " Armstrong smoked fiercely untilthe flame lit up his face. "It's the bitterest humiliation of my life, Harry, the last straw!"

CHAPTER VII

REBELLION

For a moment Harry Randall said nothing, then deliberately he glanced upand met his friend's eyes direct. 

"Begin at the beginning and tell me the whole story, " he said soberly. "Ihad no idea the thing was really so serious. "

"Well, it is, take that for granted. It's likely to be the end, so far asI am concerned. "

"Cut that out, Steve, " shortly. "It's melodramatic and cheap. Thingscan't be so bad if we look at them sanely. " He hesitated, and went onwith distinct effort. "To begin with, I'm going to ask you a question. Ihate it, you know that without my telling you, but things have gone toofar to mince matters evidently. I've heard a number of times lately thatyou were drinking. Is it so?"

"Who told you that?" hotly. 

"Never mind who. I tell you I never believed a word of it until youmentioned the president's warning. Now--Is it so?"

Armstrong's face went red, --red to the roots of his hair, --then slowlyshaded white until it was ghastly pale. 

"Yes; it's useless, it seems, to deny it. That others knew, were talkingabout it, though--It's true, Harry. I admit it. "

Slowly, slowly, Randall knocked the ashes out of the pipe-bowl and put itaway in a drawer of the table. 

"Very well, Steve. I shan't moralize. None of us men are so good we canafford to begin throwing stones. .. . Let's go back a bit to the beginning. There must be one somewhere, a cause. Just what's the trouble, old man?"

"Trouble!" It was the spark to tinder, the lead at last. "Everything, Harry, everything. " A halt for composure. "I suppose if I were to pickout one single thing, though, that was worse than another, it's mywriting. I think, I know, that's what brought on the whole cursed mess. Until my last book failed I had hope and the sun shone. When that wentdown--down like a lump of lead--I haven't been able to do a thing, carefor a thing since. My brain simply quit work too. It died, and the bestof me died with it. "

"And you began to drink. "

"Yes, like a fish. Why not, since I was dead and it helped me toforget?"

"Steve! I hate to preach, it doesn't become me; but--"

"Preach if you want to; you can't hurt my feelings now. " Armstrong grewcalm, for the first time that evening. "When a fellow has worked as Ihave worked for years, and hoped against hope, and still hoped on andworked on after failure and failure and failure three times repeated--No, don't worry about hurting my feelings, Harry. Say what you please. "

"I wasn't going to hurt your feelings, " evenly; "I was only going topreach a little. I merely wanted to take exception to that forgettingbusiness. If you'll just hold hard for a bit you'll forget normally, notartificially. Another six months and you'll be hard at another scheme, developing it; and the way you feel now--It'll be a joke then, a sort ofnightmare to laugh over. "

"Never. .. . Don't get restless; I'm not irresponsible now. I'm merelytelling you. I've been asleep and dreaming for a long time, but at lastI'm awake. Come what may, and truly as I'm telling you now, I'll neverwrite another novel. I couldn't if I wanted to--I've tried and know; andI wouldn't if I could. There's a limit to everything, and the limit of mypatience and endurance is reached. I'm done for now and for all time. "The voice was not excited now or unnaturally tense, but normal, almostconversational. 

"For ten years I've fought the good fight. Every spare hour of that timethat I could muster I've worked. I've lain awake night after night andnight after night tossing and planning and struggling for a definite end. The thing got to be a sort of religion to me. I convinced myself that itwas my work in the big scheme, my allotted task, and I tried faithfullyto do it. I never spared myself. I dissected others, of course; but Idissected myself most, clear to the bone. I even took a sort of joy in itwhen it hurt most, for I felt it was my contribution and big. I'm notbragging now, mind. I'm merely telling you as it was. I've gone on doingthis for ten years, I say. When I failed again I tried harder still. Istill believed in myself--and others. Recognition, appreciation, might bedelayed, but eventually it would come, it must; for this was my work, --toplease others, to amuse them, to carry them temporarily out of the rutof their work-a-day lives and make them forget. I believed this, I say, believed and hoped and waited and worked on until the last few months. Then--I told you what happened. Then--" For the first time the speakerpaused. He shrugged characteristically. "But what's the use of disturbingthe corpse. I've simply misread the signs in the sky--that's all. Icouldn't produce a better novel than I've written if I had the longevityof the Wandering Jew and wrote to the end--for I've done my best. Thegreat public that I've torn myself to pieces to please has seen theoffering and passed it by. They will have none of it--and they're thearbiters. " He shrugged again, the narrow shoulders eloquent. "So be it. Iaccept; but I offer no more. For all time, to finality, I'm done, done!"

"Even if some of your books should win?"

"If every one of them should do so. If half a dozen publishers came to mepersonally and begged me to resume work. I may be a poor artist, may lackcompletely the artistic subservience to or superiority to discouragement, probably I do; but at least I know I'm human. I'm like a well in thedesert that's been pumped empty and left never a mark on the surroundingsand. I couldn't produce again if I wanted to; I'm drained dry. "

Randall said nothing. He knew this other man. 

"I tell you I'm awake, Harry, at last, and see things as they are; thingsnow so childishly obvious that it seems incredible I could have gone onso long without recognizing them. People prate about appreciation ofartists of various kinds and of their work, grow maudlin over it byartificial light in the small hours of the night. And how do theydemonstrate it? Once in a while, the isolated exception that proves therule, by recognizing and rewarding the genius in his lifetime. Once in avery, very long time, I say. Mind, I don't elevate myself as a genius. I'm merely speaking as an observer who's awakened and knows. As a rulewhat do they do? Let him struggle and work and eat his heart out inobscurity and without recognition. Let him starve himself body and soul. After he's dead, after a year or a hundred years, after there is nopossibility of his receiving the reward or the inspiration, they arouse. His fame spreads. His name becomes a household word. They desecrate hisgrave, if they can find it, by hanging laurel on his tombstone. Theytear the wall-paper from the house where he once chanced to live intoribbons for souvenirs. If he happens to be a painter the picture thatbrought him enough perhaps to keep body and soul together for a month isfought for until eventually it sells for a fortune. If he was a writerthey bid for a scrap of his manuscript more than he received for hiswhole work. There are exceptions, I say; but even exceptions only provethe rule. Think over the names of the big artists, the big geniuses. Howmany of them are alive or were appreciated in their own lives? How manyliving to-day compare in the public appreciation with those dead? None ofthem, practically, none. And still do you or does any other sane personfancy that human beings are degenerating every generation, that artisticgenius is decadent? It's preposterous, unthinkable! It merely points themoral that history repeats itself. Some place, somewhere, the greatestartist in the world is painting the greatest picture the world has everknown--and this same world passes him by. It must be so, for human beingsadvance with every generation inevitably. Some place, somewhere, thebiggest writer of all time is writing the biggest book--and his neighborssmile because his clothes are rusty. This is the reward they get intheir own day and their own generation, when it would sweeten theirlives, make them worth living. The fellow who invents a mouse-trap or asafety razor or devises a way of sticking two hogs where one was killedbefore, inherits the earth, sees his name and fame heralded in everyperiodical; while the other, the real man--God, it's unbelievable, neither more nor less; and still it's true to the last detail. Again, it's all civilization, the civilization we brag of; magnificent twentiethcentury civilization!"

Still Randall said nothing, still waited. 

Armstrong hesitated, drumming on the arm of his chair with his slenderfingers. But the lull was only temporary, the storm not past; the end wasnot yet. 

"I suppose, " he forged on, "the work should be its own reward, its ownjustification. At least would-be artists are told so repeatedly. Wheneverone rebels at the injustice the world is there with this sophistry, feedshim with it as a nurse feeds pap to a crying child, until he's full andtemporarily comatose. But just suppose for an instant that the sameargument were used in any other field of endeavor. Suppose, for instance, you told the prospector who'd spent years searching for and who'dfinally found a gold mine that his reward should be in the mere knowledgeof having found it, the feeling of elation that he had added to the sumtotal of the world's wealth, and that he should relinquish it intact as apublic trust. Just preach this gospel, and how long would you escape themad-house? Or the architect who designs and superintends the constructionof a sky-scraper. Take him aside and argue with him that the artisticsatisfaction of having conceived that great pile of stone and steelshould repay him for his work, that to expect remuneration was sordid anddisgusting. Do you think he'd sign a certificate to the effect that youwere normal and sane? And still how is it with a writer in this thetwentieth century, --century of enlightenment and of progress? First ofall he must go through the formative period, which means years. Nothing, even genius, springs without preparation into full bloom. No matter howgood the idea, how big the thought, it must be moulded by a mastery oftechnique and a proficiency that only experience can give. And meanwhilehe must live. How? No matter. The suggestion is mundane. Let him settlethat for himself. At last, perhaps, if he has the divine spark, he getsa hearing. We'll suppose he accomplishes his purpose, --pleases them, makes them think, or laugh, or forget temporarily, as the case may be. Ina way he has made an opening and arrived. And yet, though an artist, heis, first of all, a human being, an animal. The animal part of himdemands insistently the good things of life. If he is normal he wants ahome and a family of his own; and wants that home as good as that of hisneighbor who practises law or makes soda biscuits. With this premise whatdo the public, who don't know him personally but whom he serves just thesame, do? The only way they can show their appreciation tangibly is bybuying his work; giving him encouragement, making it possible to live andto write more. I repeat I know this is all mundane and commonplace andunæsthetic, but it's reality. And do they give this encouragement, buythemselves, and let him make his tiny royalty which in turn enables himto live, pass an appreciation on to their friends and induce them to buy?In a fractional proportion of times, yes. In the main, John, whom thewriter has worked a year, day and night, to reach, by chance meets hisfriend Charley. 'By the way, ' he remarks, 'I picked up that novel ofBlank's lately. It's good, all right, all right; kept me up half thenight to finish it. I want you to read it, old man. It's just your style. No use to buy it, though, ' he adds hurriedly. 'Drop in sometime and I'lllend it to you. ' Of a sudden he remembers. 'Come to think of it, though, I believe just now it's lent to Phil--or was it Dick who took it. Thestory's a corker and they've both had it. ' He thinks again hard andremembers. 'I have it now. Dick gave it to Sam; he told me so. Get itfrom him yourself. I know you'll like it. ' And so the lending goes on solong as the covers hold together. Meanwhile the writer, away offsomewhere waiting and hoping and watching the sale, in return for thepleasure he gives John and Charley and Phil and Dick and Sam and therest, and in consideration of that year of work and weariness andstruggle, gets enough perhaps to buy a meal at a Chinese restaurant. Thisis appreciation, I say, enlightened twentieth century appreciation; andthe beauty of it is that every one of that company who get his work fornothing feel that by their praise and by reading his work they've giventhat writer, who can't possibly know anything about it, all that he couldpossibly desire. " For the first time that evening Armstrong paused tolaugh. "Oh, it's humorous, all right, when one stops to consider andappreciate! Just suppose, though, in the name of fair play, some one hadsuggested to John that he throw that copy of his in the furnace where noone could possibly borrow it, and then go on telling his appreciation. Just supposing some one had suggested that! Do you fancy John would haveconsidered that person wholly sane? And still that writer, besides beingan artist, is an animal with a stomach and needs a home to live in, andmaybe is human enough to have burdened himself with a wife and--andchildren--"

"Steve, confound it, you've gone on long enough. "

"I know it--too long. "

"It doesn't do any good to rail at something you can't help, that no onecan help. "

"Admitted. I'm just talking to myself--and you. It's all the same. "

"You've never starved yet or gone without clothes, so far as I know. "

"Starved, no. I had soup at my boarding-house for lunch againto-day--soup with carrots in it. Hungry--I don't know. This is a bigworld we're in and I've never had the chance even to look over thehorizon yet. Hungry? I've been hungry for--Elice for years, and I don'tdare--Hunger is awfully near to starvation sometimes, friend Harry. "

Harry Randall squirmed. He saw it coming--it!

"Oh, things will come all right if you'll be patient, " he said--andhalted himself for the trite optimism. 

"Elice won't; for she's gone already while I've been patient--gone andleft me hungry. "

"Nonsense. Rot, plain rot!"

"No, reality, plain reality. She probably wouldn't admit it yet, not evento herself, maybe doesn't know it yet herself; but I know. It's beencoming on a long time. I see it all now. "

Randall made a wry face. That was all. 

"Yes, it's true, Harry, God's truth. I asked you a peculiar question awhile ago, --asked whether I ought to marry. I didn't mean it; I was justmaudlin. I know without asking that I mustn't. Even if Elice wouldconsent--and I think she would consent yet, she's game--I mustn't. I'mwaking up more all the time. "

"Steve, you're maddening--impossible. I tell you, Elice will neverchange. You know it without my telling you. "

"Yes, I know. It's I who have changed. " He remembered suddenly. "Yes;it's I who have changed, " he repeated slowly. 

"Well, you'll change back again then. " The effort to be severe andcommonplace was becoming cumulatively difficult. "You must. "

"Must change back--and marry Elice?"

"Yes, " desperately. 

"No, not if by a miracle I could change back. "

"Why? For heaven's sake, why? Don't be a fool, man. "

"Why?" without heat. "Do you really wish to know why?"

"Yes. "

Armstrong deliberated. 

"You yourself are one reason, friend Harry. "

"I--I don't understand. "

"Yes, you do. I'm not without observation. You yourself wouldn't adviseme to marry now. "

"Steve!"

"You wouldn't, and you know you wouldn't. No offence. We're simplylooking things squarely in the eye. It's merely the tragedy of penniesamong evolved humans who require dollars to live--and must live. Am I notright, friend of mine?"

No severity this time, no commonplace--nothing. 

"I repeat, no offence; just square in the eye. Am I not right?"

"Right? I don't know. I can't answer. " A sudden blaze. "You have no rightto suggest--"

"No. Pardon me. " Armstrong's face worked in spite of himself. "Forgetthat I did suggest, Harry. It was brutal of me. "

Randall said nothing. 

"But with Elice and myself it's different. I've awakened in time. Providence, perhaps, sometimes when we least expect it--"

"Steve!" Randall had glanced up quickly, self for the moment in abeyance. "What do you intend doing, tell me that?"

"Doing?" It was almost surprise. "Have you any honest doubt yet, afterwhat I've told you?" He halted, scrutinizing his friend's face, andseemed satisfied. "I'm going to release her; release her unqualifiedly. Ican at least be man enough to do that. "

"And if you do--what of yourself?"

Armstrong smiled forcedly, a slow, mirthless smile. "Never mind aboutmyself. I've glowed genially for a long time, tried after my own fashionto warm a hearth somewhere; but at last I'm burned out, nothing butcinders. Never mind about myself. The discussion is futile. "

Randall hesitated; then he gestured impotently. 

"Elice, then--For her sake at least--"

"It's for her sake I'll do it, because she'll never do it herself. Irepeat, I can at least be man enough to do that much for her, make amendsto that extent. " He looked straight before him, seeing nothing. "She'llbe happy yet, when I'm well out of the way. "

"Steve!" Argument would not come, rebuttal; only that cry thatacknowledged its own helplessness. "I can't bear to have things go thatway. I know you both so well, like you so much. "

"I realize that, " dully; "but it's not your fault, --not any one's faultin particular that I can see. "

Randall did not gesture this time. Even that avenue seemed barred. 

"If I could only say something to influence you, to convinceyou--something adequate. "

"There's nothing to be said that I can see, or done, for that matter. It's like a church catechism, cut and dried generations ahead. "

It was the final word, and for a long time they sat there silent, unconscious of the passing minutes; alike gazing at the blank wall whichcircumstance had thrown in the way, alike looking for an opening whereopening there was none. At last, when the silence had become unbearable, Randall roused, and with an effort forced a commonplace. 

"Anyway, as yet you're reckoning without your host--in this case Elice, "he formalized. "After you've seen her--"

"It will merely be ended then--that is all. "

"I'm not so sure, even yet. "

"I repeat that I know, know to finality. Some things one can't questionwhen they're awake. Moreover, I have a reason for knowing. "

It was a new note, that last comment; a note of repression where allbefore had been unrepressed. Moreover, it was a lead intentionallyoffered. 

"What is it, Steve?" asked the other simply. "There's something yet whichyou haven't told me. "

"Yes. " Once more Armstrong's eyes were on the wall straight before him, the wall he did not see. "I merely suggested it a bit ago. I said Elicehad drifted away while I was being patient. At first that drifting wasvery slow, so slow that I didn't realize it myself; during the last fewmonths she's been going fast. " The speaker moistened his lipsunconsciously; but, watching, the other noticed. "Things seldom happen inthis world without a reason, and they didn't in this case. " Suddenly, without warning, he whirled, met the other eye to eye. "Do I need tosuggest more?" he asked steadily. 

"Suggest--more?" Randall's look was blank. "I don't believe Iunderstand. "

"I mean concerning--the reason I mentioned. Haven't you noticed anythingyourself, had any intimation?"

"I know nothing, have noticed nothing. "

"No?" Armstrong's scrutiny was merciless, all but incredulous. "Nothingconcerning Elice and--and Darley Roberts--not a whisper?"

Against his will Randall's eyes dropped. At last he understood. 

"You have heard. I thought so. " Armstrong fumbled with his cuffs, playedfor time, which meant for self-control. "I'm glad. It savesmy--explaining. "

"Yes, I've heard. " Randall's tongue lagged unwillingly. "I couldn't helpit; but believed, in the least, before--no. I thought he was yourfriend. "

"Was, yes. Now--It's been some time since we came to an understanding;and he told me, warned me. I don't blame him--or her. I've had my chance, ample chance, God knows. .. . It's simply true. "

Randall looked up unbelievingly. 

"And you don't hate him, you who were his friend?"

"Hate?. .. I don't know, don't know anything these days except that I'mdown--down; down in the mire, deep!" It was the end, the last crumb ofconfidence, and Armstrong leaped to his feet. "But what's the use ofdissecting any more, what possible use?" His hat was in his hand and hewas heading for the door. "It's all simply maddening, and I'm a fool, avisionary fool, who can't change myself or alter events; powerless--" Hehalted, turned half about. Instinctive courtesy sprang to his lips. "Pardon me, Harry, for bothering you with all this when you can donothing. I had no idea when I came of staying so long or--or of making aspectacle of myself. " He smiled, almost his old smile. "Forgive me thistime and I promise never to do it again, never. " He turned once more tothe door. "Don't get up, old man. I can find my way out. Good-night. "

"Steve! Wait!" Randall too was on his feet, a sudden premonition ofthings to come in his mind, a feeling, more than of pity, for theintention he read clear in the other's face. "Don't go yet--don't go atall. Stay with me to-night, please. "

"Stay!" Armstrong too understood, and, understanding, smiled; a smile theother man never forgot. "Stay--to-night?. .. No, thank you. I appreciateyour motive, " hurriedly, "don't fancy it's not that; but--" noquestioning that preventing gesture, no combating it--"but to-night I'mgoing to forget. .. . Yes, and to-morrow night, and the next--and thenext!"

CHAPTER VIII

CATASTROPHE

Three evenings in succession a tall young man with an ulster turned uphigh above his chin and a derby hat lowered well over his eyes circledthe block of which the Gleason lot and cottage was a part. The firsttime, in front of the house itself, he had merely halted, hands deep inhis pockets, obviously uncertain; then, as though under strain of animmediate engagement beyond, had hastened on. The second time he hadpassed up the walk, half way to the door; had of a sudden changed hismind, and disappeared rapidly as before. The third evening, the present, however, there had been no uncertainty, no hesitation. Instead, he hadwalked straight to the knocker, and, a gray-haired man in lounging-jacketand carpet slippers answering his ring, had come to anchor in thefamiliar den. From his moorings in the single comfortable chair the placeafforded, which had been compellingly pressed upon him, he was listeningto the other's explanation. 

"I think she'll return soon, though, very soon. " Mr. Gleason adjusted hishorn-rimmed eyeglasses and peered near-sightedly at his big open-facedsilver watch. "She said she'd be back early and it's nearly nine now. "

"Something going on, something important, I mean?"

"No; I don't think so. Just out for a little air, and dropped in on oneof the girls maybe. She's got three freshmen she's coaching now, and withthat out-of-town class and the house here--" The long bony fingers tappedabsently tip to tip. "It's the only time that she has and I encourage, insist almost, that she go. "

"Yes. "

The tapping fingers went still. 

"I think sometimes I'm a bit guilty that she at her age--that it shouldseem to be necessary, I mean--Maybe I imagine it, but it seems to me asthough Elice was sort of fagged and different this winter. "

The visitor unbuttoned his coat leisurely. 

"I hadn't noticed it, " he refuted. 

"No? I'm glad to hear you say it. You'd have noticed, I guess, if anyone. Probably it's all my imagination. "

"Elice herself hasn't said anything, intimated anything?"

"Not a word or a hint. Certainly not. " Something akin to surprise spokein the quick reply. "She even wanted to take on another out-of-townclass, but I vetoed that. She's as her mother was, Elice: always planningon doing just a little more. "

"Than she ought, you think?"

"Yes. "

Without apparent excuse, unconsciously, the visitor rebuttoned hisdouble-breasted coat. 

"Some people, " he commented, "work--more than they ought to, to forget;and others again do--various things. "

"What? I beg your pardon. "

"To forget, to attain callousness, to cease to feel. There are manyformulas tried, many. "

"I fear I fail to understand. "

"Doubtless. I don't understand myself. I was simply rambling. Pardonme. "

Over the horn nose-glasses Mr. Gleason scrutinized the face of theyounger man intently. 

"Certainly. For what, though, I admit I'm mystified. " He glanced awayperfunctorily. "Everything is running normally, I suppose, in yourdepartment?"

"Yes, about as usual, I guess, practically so. "

"Better than usual according to Dean Sanford, " cheerfully. "He's inclinedto brag a little this year, justifiedly, too, one must admit from theattendance. "

"Yes, the attendance is excellent--among the students. Among thefaculty--did the dean seem inclined to brag any on the faculty?"

"No; he only talked a few moments. " Mr. Gleason produced the bigtimepiece again hastily. "Nine o'clock. I wonder what can be keepingElice, " he fidgeted. 

The visitor smiled, an odd smile, neither of bitterness nor yet ofamusement. 

"Not inclined particularly to brag on his faculty, the dean, I gather?"returned Armstrong. 

The older man straightened. Out of kindness he would retreat so far; butif pursued--

"No, he barely mentioned the faculty, as I remember. "

"Not even the professor of chemistry?"

The horn-rimmed glasses had left their owner's nose and, as they had away of doing when the old man was abstracted, swung like a pendulum fromhis fingers. 

"Not even the professor of chemistry?" repeated Armstrong. 

Very quietly the older man held his ground, very steadily. 

"Just what is it you wish to know, Steve?" he asked directly. "Yougathered, of course, it was a board meeting I referred to--andconfidential naturally. I think I need say no more. "

"No, no more, certainly. I was merely curious to know if you knew. You'vesatisfied my curiosity, I believe. "

"Satisfied! I'm afraid you're taking a bit for granted. I repeat, ifyou'll tell me explicitly what you wish--"

"I was mistaken, then, after all, " with a peculiar direct look. "Youdon't really know, Sanford didn't announce--I'm surprised. I neverfancied he'd miss the opportunity. It's superhuman repression!"

For fully half a minute Mr. Gleason said nothing; then at theinterrupting sound of footsteps in the storm vestibule, followed aninstant later by the click of a latch-key, he leaned suddenly toward theyounger man. 

"That's Elice now, " he said. The voice was almost childishly hurried andcurious. "What was it that you wondered I didn't know, that Sanforddidn't announce?"

From under shaded lids Armstrong observed the change and smiled. Thesmile vanished as a shadow passed through the entrance. 

"I merely marvelled that the dean didn't announce that there would be noprofessor of chemistry after another week, the close of the presentsemester, " he said evenly. "That is, until a new one is appointed. "

"Steve!" The old man's face went gray, --gray as the face of a believerwhose gods have been offered sacrilege. In the silence the shadowadvanced to the doorway of the room itself; very real, paused therewaiting, all-seeing, listening. "You mean you're leaving the departmentthen, quitting for good?"

"For good, no, hardly. " Again a laugh, but tense now, forced. "Norquitting. In plain English I mean I'm kicked out, fired. By request, veryinsistent request, I've resigned. " With an effort he met the girl's eyesfairly. "I've babbled my last lecture in college halls, piped my swansong. The curtain is down, the orchestra has packed its instruments. Onlythe echo now remains. "

 * * * * *

"Tell me about it, Steve. " The old man had gone, dodderingly, on apitifully transparent pretext. The girl had tossed coat and gloves onone chair and herself had taken another, removing her hat as she spoke. 

"Begin at the beginning and tell me what's the matter--what this allmeans. "

"There is no beginning that I know of, " with a shrug that fell far shortof the indifferent. "What it means I've already told you. "

The hat followed the coat, hanging where it caught on the latter by onepin. "Let's not dissimulate for the present, " pleaded the girl, "orjuggle words. There's a time for everything. "

"And the present?"

"Don't, please! As a favor, if you wish. Begin at the beginning. "

"I repeat, there is none to my knowledge. There's only an end. "

"The end, then, " swiftly; "the reason for it. Don't you wish to tellme?"

"No, I don't wish to. I intend to tell you, however. It was all regular, my retirement; no one at fault among the powers that are. I had beenwarned--and failed to profit. It was very regular. "

"Yes, yes; but the reason! Tell me that. "

"Certainly. I was just coming to it. I failed to materialize at thedepartment two days in succession. I overslept. "

"Steve Armstrong! Steve--what do you fancy I'm made of! Do you mean totell me or merely to--dissect?"

"No, not dissect, to tell you. That's why I came; to tell you severalthings, this among the rest. Elice, don't do that, don't cry. Please!--Idon't intend to be a brute, I didn't mean anything. I'm simply ashamed totell you straight from the shoulder. I'm down in the gutter. You'll hear, though, anyway. I might better--I was drunk, irresponsible, two days insuccession. That's all. "

"You--that way; you, Steve Armstrong!" No tears now, no hysterics; juststeady, unbelieving expectancy. "I can't believe it--won't. You'replaying with me. "

"No, it's true. I won't say 'God knows it's true. ' I'm not dog enough yetto--blaspheme. It's simply true. "

"Steve!" The girl was on her feet, half way to him. "I never dreamed, never--You poor boy!"

"Elice, don't--don't touch me. I ask it--don't!"

"What--you can't mean--that!"

"Yes. Sit down, please. " The voice was thick. "I have several things totell you. This was only one. "

For long, interminably long it seemed to the watcher, the girl stoodwhere she had paused, midway; the figure of her still, too still, herface shading first red to the ear tips, then slowly colorless asunderstanding drove home. A half-minute probably, in reality, immeasurably longer to them both it seemed, she stood so. Without a wordshe went back to her seat, remained there, unnaturally still, her arms, bare to the elbow in half sleeves, forming a great white V as the claspedhands lay motionless in her lap. 

For another half-minute no word was spoken, no sound from without driftedinto the room. Suddenly the girl turned, her great dark eyes met those ofthe man, held them steadily. 

"You said there was something else you wished to tell me. I can't imagineanything more, anything you didn't tell just now. However, I'mlistening. "

The man said nothing, nor moved--just looked at her. 

"I repeat, I'm listening. "

"Yes, I notice. " Armstrong pulled himself together absently. "I wasthinking of something else; I'd forgotten momentarily. I always was anabsent-minded specimen; and lately--I've been worse than usual lately. "

The girl merely waited this time, the great brown eyes wide and dry. 

"When it comes to telling you, though, " stumbled on the man, "what I cameto tell you to-night, what I don't wish to tell you but must--Elice, don't look at me, please; don't! My nerve's gone. Don't you wish to askme questions instead?"

"Perhaps, " obediently the girl turned away, "after you've made thingsclear a bit. Don't fancy I'm trying to make it hard for you. I'm not, only, only--Remember, I'm all in the dark yet, all confused. "

"Yes, I know--and I'm to blame. I've been trying for a week to bringmyself to tell you, one thing at a time; but I couldn't, andnow--everything's tumbled on my head together now. "

"Everything? Steve, begin somewhere, anywhere. Don't suggest things; tellme. It's been ten days since you called last. Why was that?"

"I was afraid. I tried to come, but I couldn't. "

"Afraid of what?"

"Of you, of myself, of life. I've known that long to a certainty that theplay was over between you and me, but I couldn't bring myself to say theword. It's just this I was afraid of. This!"

"You mean to tell me now that all is over?" Unconsciously this time thegirl had shifted facing; quietly--again, too quietly--was putting thequery direct: "That's what you're telling me now?"

"Yes. "

"And why--Am I the cause--have I by word or act--have I?"

"No. "

"Is it because you've lost your chair in the University?"

"No. "

"Why, then?"

"Because we've ceased to be necessary to each other, have grown apart. "

"You think we've changed?. .. I've not changed. "

"No. It's I who have changed, have grown away from you. "

"Since when? Let's have it all. Let's understand everything. Sincewhen?"

"I don't know when, can't set a date. I merely know. "

"That--that you don't care for me any more?"

[Illustration: "Steve!" The girl was on her feet. "I never dreamed, never--You poor boy!" (_Page 153_)]

A halt, a long, long halt. 

"Yes, Elice, " said a voice at last. "I've found out that I don't care foryou any more. "

As before, the girl said nothing, never stirred. 

"I shan't try to defend myself, try to explain, " stumbled on the man. "Icouldn't if I would. The thing has simply come about--I wish to ask youto release me. "

"Steve!" Of a sudden the girl was on her feet, the forced composure of amoment ago in tatters, the tiny hands locked tight. "I can't believe it, can't credit it. I love you, Steve, in spite of all you've told me; more, because you need me more now. " The locked fingers opened. She came a stepforward in mute appeal. "Tell me that you don't mean it, that you'remerely acting, that, that--" As suddenly she halted. Her face hidden inher hands, she dropped back into the seat. "Forget, please, " she halted, "that I did that. I didn't mean to. I--I--forget it. "

"Elice--dear!" Aroused beyond his purpose, his determination, the mansprang from his seat, his eyes ablaze, glorious. "Elice--"

"No, not pity! Never, a thousand times no! Leave me alone a minute. Irelease you, yes, yes; but don't come near me now. I'm hysterical andirresponsible. Don't, please!"

Precisely where he stood Armstrong paused, looking down. After that firstinvoluntary sound he had not spoken or come closer. He merely remainedthere, waiting, looking; and as he did so, though the room was far fromclose, drops of sweat gathered on his forehead and beneath his eyes. Witha restless hand he brushed them away and sat down. Another minute passed, two perhaps; then suddenly, interrupting, incongruous, there sounded thestrained rasp of his laugh. 

"Elice, " followed a voice, "aren't you through--nearly?" Again the laugh;grating, unmirthful. "I've done this sort of thing identically in novelsseveral times, done it realistically, I thought; but it never took thislong by minutes. Aren't you almost through?"

Surprised out of herself the girl looked up, incredulous. 

"Something must be wrong, art or reality, one or the other. I--Iwonder--which was wrong, Elice?"

As suddenly as the mood of abandon had come it passed; incredulity, itssuccessor, as well. In the space of seconds the miracle was wrought, andanother woman absolutely sat there looking forth from the brown eyes ofElice Gleason. 

"Steve! I thought I was ready for anything after what you just told me, what you just asked. But this deliberate--insult. .. . Did you mean it, Steve, really; or are you merely acting?. .. Don't look away; this meansthe world to you and me, and I want to be sure, now. .. . Did you mean it, Steve, the way you did it, deliberately? Tell me. "

"Mean it? Certainly. It's important, what I asked, from an artist's pointof view. Either I was wrong or else reality is--overdone. .. . Repression'sthe word, all critics agree, repression invariably. "

"Steve Armstrong! Stop! I won't stand it. Listen. It's unbelievable, butI must take you at your word--your own word. Do you mean exactly whatyou've said, and done?"

Again the moisture sprang to Armstrong's face, but this time there was noattempt at procrastination. 

"Yes, Elice, " he said, and looked her fair. 

"Yes? Think. This is final. "

"Yes. "

An instant the look held; the brown eyes dropped. 

"I repeat, then, you are released, free. " She sat very still. "Is thereanything else you wish to say?"

"Perhaps. I don't know. .. . You mean, if I have I'm to say it now. I can'tcome again. .. . You're not going to forgive me?"

"Forgive? Certainly, if there is anything to forgive. I had no thoughtotherwise. "

"I'm not to come again, though. You mean that?"

"I fail to see the object. .. . To use an expression of your own, it'sdesecration to disturb the corpse. "

"Even if--"

"Let's not argue about nothing. I'm not cursed with nerves ordinarily, but there are times--" She arose slowly, stood there beside her chair, gracefully slender, gracefully imperious. "You've chosen deliberately, you know. "

"Yes, I know. " Armstrong too had arisen in his dismissal, involuntarilyobedient. "But you said, before I told you, before you understood, thatafterward, perhaps--You remember you said that?"

"Yes; I remember. Things are changed now, though. What I had in mindyou've answered yourself. .. . One thing I would like to ask, however, onething that I hope you will answer truly, no matter whether it hurts me ornot. It's this: Was I to blame in any way whatever, by word or act orsuggestion, for your losing your place in the University? Will you answerme that--and truly?"

From the chair where he had thrown it down Armstrong took up the longulster and buttoned it mechanically to his throat. 

"No, Elice, " he repeated; "you're not at fault in any way, by word or actor suggestion. There's no one at fault except myself. "

"Thank you. I would always have feared, if I hadn't asked, that somehowunintentionally--" She was silent. 

Armstrong hesitated, waiting until there was no longer hope. 

"You have nothing else you wish to say, then?" he asked at last. 

"Nothing; unless it is this, that you know already: I shall alwaysbelieve in you, Steve, always. "

"Believe in me!" The shade of the old ironic smile did duty. "You think Ishall still become wealthy and famous?"

"Perhaps not, " swiftly. "I never demanded either qualification of you. Why should I lie now? Both are right and desirable in their place, provided they come normally; but their place is second, not first. Youknow what I mean. I believe that you will always be clean and fair andlikeable--always. "

Involuntarily the man turned away, until his face was hidden. 

"You believe this, and still--you don't give advice or--or warning?"

"I repeat, I believe in you. Even if it weren't an insult advice wouldnot be necessary. "

A last second they stood there, so near, so very near together and stillso infinitely far apart. Dully, almost ploddingly, the man turned toleave. 

"Thank you, Elice, " he said. "That's probably the last kind word I'llhear for a long time. Perhaps, too, it's justified, perhaps--who knows?Good-night and--good-bye. "

The girl did not follow him, did not move. 

"Good-bye, Steve, " she echoed. 

BOOK II

CHAPTER I

ANTICIPATION

"Are you given to remembering dates, Elice?"

There had been a pause, --one of the inevitable, normal pauses that occurwhen two people who are intimate are alone and conversation drifts whereit will. Into this particular void, without preamble, entered thisquestion. 

"Sometimes. Why?"

"Not always, then?"

"No. I haven't any particular tendency that way that I know of. PossiblyI'm not yet old enough for it to develop. "

"To be more specific, then, to-day is December the sixth. " DarleyRoberts' eyelids narrowed whimsically. "Does that particular date haveany special significance, recall anything out of the ordinary to you?"

Elice Gleason glanced up from the four-leafed clover she was bringing tolife on the scrap of linen in her lap, and looked at her companionthoughtfully. 

"From the way you come at me, point blank, " she smiled, "I have no doubtit should. Your chance questions, I've discovered, always do have astring attached to them somewhere. But just at this particular moment Iadmit December the sixth recalls nothing in particular. "

"Not even when I add, at approximately eight o'clock in the evening? It'sthat now. I've been consulting the timepiece over there. "

"No; not even that. I'm more and more convinced it's a distinct lapse onmy part; but again I'm compelled to confess incompetency. When did whathappen at approximately eight P. M. On December the sixth?"

Darley Roberts stroked his great chin with reminiscent deliberation. 

"On December sixth, at eight o'clock P. M. , precisely one year ago, " heexplained minutely, "a certain man called on a certain young woman of hisacquaintance for the first time. It was, I am reliably informed, amomentous occasion for him. Moreover he--Had you really forgotten, Elice?"

"Yes--the date. "

"Strange. I hadn't. Perhaps, though, it meant more to me than to you. "He laughed peculiarly. "I fancy I didn't tell you at the time that it wasthe first call I'd ever made on a young woman in my life. " He laughedagain with tolerant amusement. "I was thirty-three years old then, too. "

The girl drew a thread of green from a bundle of silk in her lapdeliberately. "No; you never told me that, " she corroborated. 

The wrinkles gathering about Darley Roberts' eyes suddenly deepened, infallible precursor of the unexpected. 

"By the way, " he digressed, "I'm growing curious to know what you do withthose things you're embroidering, those--"

"Lunch cloths?"

"That's it, lunch cloths. The present makes seven, one after the other, you've completed. I've kept count. "

"Curious, you say?" The girl laughed softly. "And still you've neverasked. "

"No. I fancied there'd ultimately be an end, a variation at least; but itseems I was mistaken. Do you expect to keep them, as a man does a case ofrazors, one for each day of the week?"

Again the soft little amused laugh. 

"Hardly. I sell them. There are five more in prospect--an even dozen. "

"Oh. I wondered. "

Another void; an equally abrupt return. 

"To come back to the date, " recalled the man, "I remembered it distinctlythis morning when I tore the top leaf off the desk-pad. It stood out asthough it were printed in red ink, like the date of a holiday. I--do Ishow signs of becoming senile--childish, Elice?"

"Not that I've noticed. You seem normal. "

"Nor irresponsible--moonstruck--nothing of that kind?"

"No. "

"I'm glad to hear it. I didn't know. .. . Somehow this morning the sight ofthat date made me do a thing I haven't done since--I don't know when. Ihad a consuming desire to celebrate. "

The girl's head was bent low, the better to see her work. 

"Yes?" she said. 

Again the man stroked his chin, with the former movement of whimsicaldeliberation. 

"Do you know what people down town, people I do business with, call me, Elice?" he asked. 

"No. "

"Never heard of 'old man' Roberts?"

"No, " again. 

"Well, that's me--old man Roberts--old man--thirty-four. .. . By the way, what do you call me, Elice?"

"Mr. Roberts, " steadily. 

"Not Darley; not once in all this last year?"

No answer. 

"Not Darley--even once?"

"I think not. "

The eyes of the man smiled, the eyes only. 

"To return again, old man Roberts had a desire to celebrate. The date wason his brain. He didn't even take off his coat after he'd seenit--normally the old man works in his shirt-sleeves, you know--he justwalked back from his private room into the general office. 'To-day's aholiday, ' he said. 

"They stared, the office force--there are seven of them. They didn't saya word; they just stared. 

"'I say to-day's a holiday, ' the old man repeated, 'shut up shop. '"

There was a silence. In it Miss Gleason glanced up--into two eyes smilingout of a blank face. Her own dropped. Simultaneously, also, her earstinged scarlet. 

Darley Roberts laughed a low tolerant laugh at his own expense. 

"Still think I wasn't irresponsible--moonstruck--nothing of the kind?"

"No--Mr. Roberts. "

"Wait. After the force had gone, still staring, the old man went back tohis desk. He looked up a number in the telephone directory. 'Mr. Herbert?Roberts, Darley Roberts. --I'd like to see you personally. Yes, at once. I'm waiting. '"

Again the girl glanced up; something made her. And again she encounteredthose same eyes smiling out of a masked face. 

"The old man waited; ten minutes maybe. He didn't do a thing; justwaited. Then events came to pass. " Once more the little throaty laugh. "'Mr. Herbert, ' he said, 'your house you advertise for sale. How muchthis morning?'

"Mr. Herbert seemed surprised, distinctly surprised. He was only halfthrough the door at the time. 

"'Eighteen thousand dollars. It cost twenty, '--after he's caught hisbreath. 

"'It cost _you_ fifteen even. I've been to some trouble to find out. '

"'You can't know the place, Mr. --Mr. Roberts. '

"'Yes. Top of the hill. Faces east and north. Terra cotta, brick. Forreasons you know best it's been vacant for a month now. '

"'You can't know the inside, I mean. It's finished in solid hardwood, every inch. '

"'Yes, I've seen it; oak in front, mahogany in the dining-room, rosewoodin the den. I've seen it. '

"'When? I've lived there nine years until just lately. Not in thattime. '

"'Yes, during that time. I was at a party there once, --a university partywhich Mrs. Herbert gave. '

"'All right. Maybe you know. '

"'Unquestionably. I repeat the place cost you fifteen thousand. '

"'The price now is eighteen. '

"'You don't wish to sell--at fifteen?'

"'No. '

"'That's all, then. '

"'Roberts--confound it--'

"'I'm sorry to have bothered you. I thought you wished to sell. '

"'I've got to, but I don't have to give it away. '

"'I repeat I'm sorry to have bothered you. '

"'I'll see you again; to-morrow perhaps--'

"'I shall be very busy to-morrow. To-day's a holiday. '

"'A holiday! Anyway I haven't the abstract. '

"'Unnecessary. I said I knew all about the place. I see the deed there inyour pocket. You anticipated, I see. '

"'Well, of all the inexplicable hurry!'

"'Shall I write you a check for--fifteen thousand?'"

Darley Roberts halted. For the third time he laughed. 

"You gather, perhaps, " he said, "that I bought a house this morning. Afterward I bought a few other things--just a few. After that Imoved in; into two rooms. I've had rather a busy day, all told, celebrating--celebrating December the sixth. .. . How about it, Elice, now that I've elaborated. Any signs of senility, irresponsibility, yet?"

"No, " very steadily. "It seems perfectly natural to me for a man to wanta house. "

"Perhaps you're right. Yes; I do want a house, no doubt about it;particularly that house. I've been intending to own it sometime for quitea spell--for some eight years now; to be exact, since the time I saw itbefore. .. . You know the place, don't you?"

"Yes, very well. "

"I fancied so. .. . By the way, do you recall that--occasion I referredto?"

"Indistinctly. "

"I fancied that too. .. . You don't remember by any chance what a lion Iwas that night?"

"No, Mr. Roberts. "

"Not 'no, Darley'?"

"No. "

"Not even yet; and it's been a year!. .. As I was about to say, though, Irecall distinctly. I remember I had a perfectly delightfultime--listening to the others' conversation. Likewise dancing--withmyself in a shadowy corner. Also eating lunch--with myself later. I hadample time to think--and I decided eventually that there'd been a slightmistake somehow when my name got on the list. .. . I liked the house, though, very much; so much that I decided to buy it sometime--at anominal figure. I didn't feel peculiarly generous that night when I madethe decision. .. . Last of all, I recall I met a girl; rather young then, but rather pleasant also, I thought. She talked to me for an entireminute. I know because I held my breath the while, and that's my limit. She was the only one who apparently did see me that night, though. Perhaps her being rather young was why. "

The voice ceased. The speaker looked at the listener. Simultaneously thelistener looked at the speaker. They smiled, companionably, understandingly. 

"That's all, I believe, I have to impart concerning December the sixth, all concerning the celebration. That is--" of a sudden the banteringvoice was serious and low--"that is, unless there's something more you'dlike to know. "

The girl was busy with the clover again, very busy. 

"I think you've told me all there is to tell, " she said steadily. "Iunderstand. "

Darley Roberts waited; but that was all. 

"Very well. " The voice was normal again, tolerant, non-committal. "It'syour turn, then. I fear I'm becoming positively loquacious. I monopolizethe conversation. Let's hear your report since--Thanksgiving, Ibelieve, --the last time I heard it. "

For some reason the girl lost interest in her work. At least there seemedless need of immediate haste. She rolled the silks and the linentogether with a little unconscious sigh of relief. 

"Since Thanksgiving, " she said, "I've cooked eighteen meals for fatherand myself. I've been out of town once, coached two thick heads twiceeach, attended one bridge party--or was it five hundred? I believe that'sall. "

"Not had a call from Miss Simpson?" smilingly. 

"How did you know?"

"I don't know. I asked you. "

"Yes; Agnes called--of course. "

"What report of your friends the Randalls, then?"

"Shame on you--really. "

"No. I didn't mean it that way--really. You know it. I'm interestedbecause you are. How are things coming on with them?"

The girl fingered the roll in her lap absently. "Badly, I'm afraid. Margery's gone to Chicago to visit her cousin, and shop. She can't seemto realize--or won't. I went over and baked some things for Harryyesterday. He's dismissed the maid they had and the place looks ascheerful as a barn. I didn't even see him. "

"You noticed the house, though, doubtless. Much new furniture about?"

"Yes, for the dining-room; a complete new suite, sideboard and all, inweathered oak. It's dear. .. . How in the world did you know, though?"

"A big rug, too, and curtains, and--a lot of things?"

"How did you know, you? Tell me that. "

"Would you say it was worth four hundred dollars in all, what you saw?"The eyes were smiling again. 

"Perhaps. I don't know. I have never bought such things. .. . You haven'tanswered my question yet. "

"I know because Mr. Randall told me. He also requested me, as a favor, toask you about them instead of going to the house myself. "

"Which means you made him a loan to pay the bill. Are you a friend ofHarry's?"

"A loan, yes. A friend--only as your friends are mine. "

"It's too bad, a burning shame--when Harry works so hard, too. " The girlwinked fast, against her will. "I can't quite forgive Margery. "

"For going to Chicago?"

"For everything. For that too. "

"Not if I told you I advised her to go?"

"You!" In astonishment complete the girl stared. "You advised her togo?"

"Yes, the same day I made Randall the loan. It was really a coincidence. I wondered they didn't meet in the elevator. "

"A lawyer in a little town like this, with several departments in hisbusiness, comes in contact with a variety of things, " he commented aftera moment. 

"Tell me about Margery. " The girl seemed to have heard that suggestiononly. "I can't understand, can't believe--really. "

For a moment Roberts was silent. There was no banter in his manner whenhe looked up at last. 

"I didn't tell you this merely to gossip, " he said slowly; "I think youappreciate that without my saying it; but somehow I felt that you oughtto know--that if any one could do any good there it is you. I never meteither of them before, that's another coincidence; but from what you'vetold me and the little I saw of them both that day, I felt dead sorry. Besides, life's so short, and I hate--divorce. "

"You can't mean it has come to that?"

"It hadn't come, but it was coming fast. She visited me first. Fromthere she was going straight to her father--to stay. "

"It's horrible, simply horrible--and so unjustified! You induced her, though, to go to Chicago instead?"

"It was a compromise, a play for time. I tried to get her to go backhome, but she refused, positively. The only alternative seemed to be toget her away--quick. .. . Was I right?"

"Yes, I think so, under the circumstances. But the trouble itself, Ican't understand yet--Was it that abominable furniture?"

"Partly. At least that was the final straw, the match to the fuse. Thewhole thing had been gathering slowly for a long time. I didn't get theentire story, of course. She wasn't exactly coherent. It seems sheordered it on her own responsibility, and when the goods weredelivered--the thing was merely inevitable, some time--that was all. "

"Inevitable? No. It was abominable of Margery--unforgivable. "

"I don't know about that; in fact I'm inclined to differ. I stillmaintain it was inevitable. "

"Inevitable fiddlesticks! Harry is the best-natured man alive, andgenerous. He's been too generous, too easy; that's the trouble. "

"'Generous?'" gently. "'Generous?'. .. Is it generous for a man withnothing and no prospect of anything to take a girl out of a home wheremoney was never a consideration, and transplant her into another wherepractically it is the only thought?. .. 'Generous' for his own pleasure, to undertake to teach her a financial lesson he knew to a moral certaintyin advance she could never learn? Do you honestly call that 'generous'?"

"But she could learn. It--was her duty. "

"Duty!" Roberts laughed tolerantly. "Is 'duty' in the dictionary you usea synonym for 'cooking' and 'scrubbing' and 'drudgery'? Is that yourinterpretation?"

"Sometimes--in this case, yes; for a time. "

"Permanently, you mean?"

"No; for a time--until Harry got on his feet. "

"He'll never get on his feet unaided. Instead he'll get more and morewobbly all the time. The past proves the future. He's proved it. "

"You're simply horrid. " There were real tears in the girl's eyes now, nota mere premonition. "I'm sorry I ever told you anything about them. "

"I know I'm horrid, grant it. A friend I once had told me I was afish, --cold-blooded like one. Nature made me that way, you see, so Ican't help it. And still I'm inclined to believe if Mrs. Randall hadchanced to select any other lawyer in town there'd be a real separation, instead of one in prospect, right now. "

Elice Gleason looked up penitently. 

"I'm sorry, " she said simply. "I didn't mean that. "

"I don't doubt it, " equally simply. 

"You're so blunt and logical though; so--abstract. "

"Yes; I am that way. "

The girl drew a long breath. Seemingly, after all, the victory was hers. 

"Well, what are we going to do about it? We, their friends, have to dosomething. "

"Yes, that's the question--what?"

"Margery will never go back now of herself. I know her. "

"No; she'll never go back of herself, never. Do you blame her?"

No answer. The query was sudden. 

"Honest, do you blame her?" insistently. 

"I thought I did. I don't know--I don't know. "

"Does 'love, honor, and obey' mean 'wash, bake, and scrub' to a girl whohas never in her life before done any of the three?"

Still silence. 

"Would you, if you were in her place, come back--would you?"

"I?" It was almost a gasp. "I'm not like Margery. I've counted penniesall my life. " A sudden flame. "But why do you bring me in?"

"Why? That's true. I had no right. I apologize. To come back to Mrs. Randall. Do you still blame her?"

"No, I don't believe I do. I ought to, I feel that; but I don't. It'stangled, tangled!"

"Yes. It's the first symptom of divorce. "

The girl flashed him a sudden look. 

"And you hate divorce. You just said so. "

"From the bottom of my soul. I meant it. "

Miss Gleason flashed a second look. Suddenly, unaccountably, she held thereins. 

"What's to be done then? Margery is as she is, we both know that;and--and Harry loves her, we both know that, too. What do you suggest?"

"I?" Roberts smiled, his slow smile. "I'm her lawyer and--abstract. Besides, her father is wealthy. There'd be a fat fee if she returned tohim. "

"You forget that I apologized. "

"That's right. I'm always forgetting. " Apparently he did not remembereven yet. 

"You've neglected to answer my question, " impatiently. "I repeat: whatare you going to do about it?"

"I asked your solution first. Do you give it up?"

"Yes, " with a little gesture; "I give it up. "

Darley Roberts smiled; a contagious, convincing smile. 

"Very well, I'll try then, " he said. "I shan't promise anything. I'llsimply try. "

"Try how?"

Again Roberts smiled; but through whimsically narrowed lids now. 

"I'm not sure of the details yet myself. I merely have an idea. There'san old adage concerning Mahomet and the mountain, you know. "

"And in this case Margery represents the mountain?"

"Yes. "

Unconsciously the girl's color heightened. 

"You really fancy, " swiftly, "that Harry can be stirred up enough, can bemade practical enough--you forget you said a moment ago that he wouldnever advance financially. "

"No. The adage will have to be adjusted a bit to meet the requirements. He'll have to be carried there. "

Elice Gleason drew a quick little breath of understanding and somethingmore. 

"If you'll do this for one almost a stranger, one wonders what you woulddo for a friend, " she said; "one--wonders. "

For an instant the man said nothing; abruptly, dismissing the subject, hearose. 

"There's just one other thing that I meant to tell you, " he said;"something that perhaps you know already. I'm pretty busy and I don'talways find time to read the local news. So it's not unusual that Ididn't know before. Steve Armstrong is back. "

Quietly the girl arose also, stood so very still. 

"Yes, " she said. "He's been back a week. He's working in the bigdrug-store on the corner, Shaw's place, in the laboratory. "

"That's all, then. I thought perhaps you didn't know. "

For an instant the girl was silent; she looked her companion full in theface. 

"He called the afternoon he came. He was almost--pitiable. Father camehome finally. "

"Elice!"

Their eyes held. Not three feet separate they stood there; but neitherstirred. 

"Mr. Roberts. "

In silence the man put on top-coat and gloves; not hastily, nor yetlingeringly. Equally naturally he picked up his hat. 

"December the sixth, " he said. "One whole year. To-morrow will be theseventh--and business--battle, again. " For the first time he dallied, thebig soft felt hat turning absently in his hand. "Somehow I'd hoped a lotfor the sixth, planned a lot--and now it's past. " His eyes shifted, fastened elsewhere compellingly. 

"It is all past, all over, gone into history, isn't it, Elice?"

"Yes, it's past, Mr. Roberts. "

"Not even 'past, Darley, ' not even that--yet?"

The brown eyes dropped. They had fought their fight and won--for Decemberthe sixth. 

"No. Not even that--yet, " she said. 

CHAPTER II

ACQUAINTANCE

At the corner next beyond the Gleason home Darley Roberts caught the nineo'clock car, and remained on it until the end of the division, practically the extreme opposite edge of the town, was reached. He wasthe last passenger to leave, and as the motorman was reversing thetrolley he paused a moment in the vestibule. 

"Normal load was it, Johnson?" he asked the conductor. "You rang uptwenty-four fares, I noticed. "

The man looked consciously surprised to be called by name. 

"Yes, Mr. Roberts, " he said; "we carry anywhere between twenty and thirtyat this time of night. "

"How about the next trip, nine-thirty?"

"Better yet if anything. "

"And the next, the last?"

"Best of all. The straps are nearly always loaded. "

Roberts buttoned up his coat deliberately. 

"Think it would pay to run a couple of hours longer?" he asked, and thistime the conductor all but flushed at the unexpected confidence. 

"Yes; I'm sure it would, Mr. Roberts; especially when the school's insession. The boys would ride half the night if they could. "

"There seems to be a good deal in that. By the way, you have only oneshift on this car now, I understand. "

It was the long-hoped-for opportunity and Johnson grew eloquent. 

"Right you are, and it's the dog's life for us men. I've had only one hotmeal a day since I took the job. " He searched the impassive face beforehim with a glance. "If the schedule was stretched a little, now, ateither end and a second shift added--"

"That's a good idea. I'm glad it occurred to you. Better speak to thesuperintendent about it yourself; he'll see the point. " Roberts alighteddeliberately. "Any suggestion you men in the service make is valuable. "As he vanished up the street toward his destination, in the fulness ofknowledge that the contemplated suggestion had been decided from theturning of the first wheel on the system, he left behind him a man imbuedwith an _esprit de corps_ that was to grow and leaven the entire workingforce. It took but a minute all told!

Five minutes later, in the half dark doorway of a cottage on a sidestreet, he was face to face with Harry Randall. 

"Pardon me if I intrude, " he was saying, "but I'm going out of townto-morrow and I wish to talk with you a bit before I go. Can you spare mea little time?"

"Certainly. " Randall's manner was decidedly stiff. Nevertheless he ledthe way through the vestibule and living-room to the dining-room beyond. There he halted significantly. "By the way, " he began, "the furniture Imentioned--"

"Damn the furniture!" Roberts met his host's look steadily. "You know mebetter than that, by reputation if nothing more. I said I wished to talkwith you. May I?"

Randall colored, and the stiffness vanished as by a miracle. 

"Pardon me, " he said. "I've got a sort of den upstairs where I do mywork. " Again he led the way. "My wife's out of town, though, now, andthings are a bit mussy. "

Roberts made no comment, and they mounted the stairs in silence. 

Inside the room the visitor swept the place with a single all-includingglance. Thereafter, apparently, he observed nothing. 

"First of all, then, " he initiated bluntly, "do I intrude? If so, I cantell my business in five minutes; if not, we might possibly becomeacquainted. "

Again Randall colored; then he smiled, his saving quality. 

"Not in the least. It's Friday night, you know. In addition I was a bitlonely. I'm distinctly glad to see you. "

"Which, interpreted, means glad to see any one. "

"Yes, I suppose so. "

For an instant the old odd smile shone in Roberts' eyes, then itdisappeared, leaving them normal, inscrutable. 

"To begin with, then, I came primarily to talk about Steve Armstrong. Ibelieve he's a friend of yours. "

"Yes. " A halt, then the query direct returned. "Is he of yours?"

"I'll answer that question later, if you please. At least he's the oneadult to date I can remember who ever called me by my first name. Didyou know that he'd returned to town?"

"Yes. He was here last night. "

"Responsible, was he?"

"Mr. Roberts!" Randall flushed like a woman with strangers. "Pardon me, but there are some questions I can't answer--at least until you answer myown of a moment ago. "

"I understand perfectly. Also, contrary to your suspicion, I didn't avoidyour question to make it difficult for you. It requires two to befriends. Enmities I, personally, have none. Life's too short and toobusy. If it will assist you any, I met Armstrong in the street thisevening face to face, and he declined to speak. I judge he's no friend tome. Am I any more clear?"

"Yes, " simply. 

"Do you wish to answer my question now, then?"

"I judge you have a good reason for asking. He was not responsible, wholly. "

"Not even decently so?"

"Hardly. "

"I gathered as much from his appearance to-night. It was the first timeI'd seen him in nearly a year. You know the whole story betweenArmstrong and myself, I take it?"

"Yes, " once more. 

"And your sympathy is naturally with him. "

"It has been. "

"And now--"

The smile that made Randall's face boyish came into being. 

"I'm deferring judgment now--and observing. "

"I fear I can't help you much there, " said Darley, shortly. "I wished todiscuss the future a bit, not the past. The last time I talked withArmstrong he was impossible. I think you know what I mean. All men arethat way when they lose their nerve and drown the corpse. What I wish toask of you is whether the thing was justified. I'm not artistic. I don'tbrag of it--I admit it. You're different; your opinion is of value. Commercially, he's an impossibility. He couldn't hold a place if he hadit--any place. I don't need to tell you that either. As a writer--can hewrite, or can't he?"

Harry Randall took off his big eyeglasses and polished one lens and thenthe other. 

"In my opinion, yes--and no. " He held the glasses to the light, seemedsatisfied, and placed them carefully on his nose. "A great writer--he'llnever be that. It takes nerve and infinite patience to be anything great, and Steve invariably loses his nerve too soon. He lacks just that much ofbeing big. As for ability, the spark--he's got it, Roberts, as certainlyas you and I are sitting here. Elementally, he's a child and will alwaysremain a child. I think most artists are more or less so. Children can'tbear criticism or delay--uncertain delay--that's Steve. On the otherhand, if he were encouraged, kept free on the financial side, left atliberty to work when he felt the mood, and then only, then--I realizeit's a big 'if' and a big contract for some one--he'd make good. Have Ianswered your question?"

"Yes. And here's another: Is it worth while?"

"To bolster him, you mean; to 'pull him out of the mud, ' to use his ownphrase?"

"No; that would be a waste of energy. I mean to keep him out permanently, to continue pulling indefinitely. "

For a long time the two men sat in silence. 

"God knows, " said Randall at last. "I've asked myself the same questionfor years--and couldn't answer it. It's as big as the universe. Steve issimply an atom. It's unanswerable. "

In the pause following Roberts lit one of the seemingly inexhaustibleblack cigars, after proffering its mate. Again the two sat there, theblue haze of mutual understanding gathering between them. 

"I say it's unanswerable, " repeated Randall. "It's the old problem of theyoung supporting the uselessly old, the well serving the incurablydiseased. It means eternal vigilance from some one, eternal sacrifice. It's insoluble, neither more nor less. "

"Yes, " said Roberts. "I've found it so--insoluble. Particularly so inthis case. "

Slowly Randall's glance lifted, met the other's eyes. That instant, as aflame is born, came full understanding between them. 

"Yes, particularly so in this case, " echoed Roberts; "for it means awoman's sacrifice, one particular woman's sacrifice. Nothing else in theworld will do--nothing. "

It was the beginning of personal confidence, the halting-point forconversation between these two. Both knew it and neither crossed theline. They merely waited until a digression should come naturally. Roberts it was who at last introduced it, and in a manner so matter offact that the other was all but deceived. 

"Has Armstrong been doing anything lately in a literary way--anything, Imean, that justifies your opinion?" he asked abruptly. 

"No, not that I know of; absolutely nothing. "

"You're relying, then, on past impressions merely. "

"Yes; specifically the last novel he wrote, --the one of a year or a yearand a half or so ago. "

"You haven't by any chance a copy of the manuscript, I suppose?"

"No. "

"You could doubtless get it, however?"

"I think so--unless some time he became morbid and burned it. "

"He hasn't done that; I know him. He might threaten; but to do it--he'das probably go hungry. Get it some time, will you?"

"I will if you request. You don't wish it for yourself, do you?"

"No, not for myself. Perhaps not at all. I've not decided yet. Anyway getit, please, and be ready if I should ask. " He flashed a look no man hadever questioned, could question. "You don't doubt my motive?"

"No. The manuscript will be ready. I'll answer for that. "

No further question of interest was asked, no additional hint of purposeproffered. The subject merely dropped, as in the beginning it had merelybegun. In some ways they were similar, these two men in general sodissimilar. 

"I had another object in calling to-night, " said Roberts, and again theannouncement was made without preface. "The opportunity to buy a housepresented itself to-day and I accepted. Perhaps you know the place, --J. C. Herbert's, on top of the hill. "

"Yes. " Open wonder spoke in the voice, open mystification. "Yes, I knowit. "

"It's been vacant for some time. I moved this afternoon, just into acouple of rooms. My boy is there now trying to warm up the place; buteven then it won't be particularly inviting. Besides, I'm out of townquite a bit and in the future am likely to be called away still more. Itoccurred to me that if I could find some married people whom I trusted, who would take a personal interest in it and make it a home, it would bepleasanter for me than being tucked away in a couple of rooms alone andthe rest of the barn empty. "

"Yes, " repeated Randall, impersonally, "I think I appreciate your pointof view. It's a little cheerless to be in a house alone. "

"I wouldn't expect to interfere with them in any way, " Roberts driftedon, "or live with them--nothing of the kind. As I said, I probablyshouldn't even be there much; only at night. I'd expect to keep itup--coal and light and that sort of thing--just the same as I would haveto do if I were alone. I'd naturally wish to help furnish it, too; thethings that would inevitably fit in with it and wouldn't fit any placeelse. But the main thing would be to have somebody about to make my owncorner livable, to sort of humanize the place. You catch my idea?"

"Yes, I think so. " Harry Randall's hand was on his bald spot, caressingit absently. "Yes, I think so, " he repeated. 

"It's a big place, even larger than I remembered, when I went through itto-day, " went on Roberts again. "It'll take considerable help to keep itup and some one will have to be about constantly to direct. I have thehelp in mind right now, competent too--I meet a lot of people in variousways and I've had the thing on my mind; but the supervision--it's simplyout of the question with me at the present. " He faced the other, lookedat him straight. "Would you and Mrs. Randall care to accept the place asa home in return for taking the responsibility of up-keep from me?"

In the pause following Harry Randall's face went slowly red. Equallydirectly he met the other's look. 

"Pardon me, Mr. Roberts, " he said, "but Mrs. Randall and myself are notexactly objects of charity yet. "

Darley Roberts' expression did not alter by so much as the twitching of amuscle. 

"That was unjustified, Mr. Randall, " he said evenly, "and you know it. Let me explain a bit further. I happen to have a house, but no home. Bythe same chance you are able to produce the reverse. Just why should itbe an offence upon my part to suggest bringing the two together--for themutual benefit of us both?"

"Why? Because it's unequal, it's patronage; and though I work for twelvehundred dollars a year, I'm still American born. "

"Granted--the latter remark. I'm also American born, in the remotestcorner of the most God-forsaken county in--I won't name the State; Imight hurt some one's feelings. " Roberts' big fingers were twitching in away they had when something he had decided to do met with opposition. "Nevertheless I hope that fact doesn't make me wholly unreasonable. Whenit comes to patronage, we're all patronized: you do a kindness for afriend, without remuneration, and he accepts it; that's patronage. TheUniversity gives you a position as professor, out of a dozen applicantswho could do equally well, and you accept gladly. That's favoritism, another word for patronage. A client comes to me and pays a fee for doinga certain labor, when my competitor across the street would perform itequally capably, and for perhaps a smaller fee. That's patronage. Youpatronize your tailor when you order a suit of clothes, the butcher whenyou buy a beefsteak. It's the basis of life, elemental. The very air youbreathe is patronage. It costs you nothing, and you give nothing adequatein return. To characterize patronage as un-American, stultifying, ispreposterous. Even if it were true in this case, you'd have to giveanother reason for offence. I refuse to consider it. "

"Well, unbusinesslike then, if that is better. "

"Unbusinesslike? Wait. In company with three other men I'm developing asilver mine down in Arizona. The mining claim belongs to a fifth man, belongs to him absolutely. He knows the metal is there as well as we do;but it's down under the ground, locked up tight in a million tons ofrock. As it is now, so far as he's concerned, it might as well be onMars. If left to himself alone he'd live and die and it would still bethere. He hasn't the ability nor the means to make it of use. The otherthree men and myself have. We can develop it, and will; to our ownpurposes, share and share alike. According to your notion there'spatronage somewhere; but exactly where? Point me the offence?"

Again Harry Randall caressed his bald crown. The argument was convincing, almost. 

"The cases are not parallel, " he combated weakly, "not even similar. "

"And why not?" shortly. "I'm no longer a young man particularly. I'venever had a place that I could call home in my life; never for a day thatI can remember. I want one now, fancy I see the possibility of makingone; a place where I can keep a friend now and then if I wish, where Icould even order in a supper and entertain if I saw fit. I chance to havethe ability to pay for the privilege, and am willing to pay. That's myaffair. You chance to be able to make that home possible--andincidentally enjoy it yourself. It's like the silver mine, --mutualbenefit, share and share alike. The cases seem to me parallel, quiteparallel. "

Opposite Harry Randall sat very still. In absent forgetfulness hepolished the big glasses the second time and sprung them back carefullyon his nose. But even yet he did not answer, merely sat there waiting;awaiting the moment to counter, to refute. 

"Am I not right?" asked Roberts, bluntly. "Isn't the propositionlogical?"

"Logical, yes. The logic is very good. " Randall glanced up keenly. Themoment for which he had been waiting had come, more quickly than he hadexpected. "So _good_ in fact that I see but one fault. "

"And that?"

This time the keen eyes smiled, very candidly. 

"The sole fault, so far as I can see, is that you don't believe in ityourself. "

For the space wherein one could count ten slowly the two men looked ateach other; slowly, in turn, on Roberts' firm fighter's face there formeda smile, a peculiar, appreciative smile. 

"Granted, " he said. "I admit failure. " The smile passed like a droppedcurtain. "Moreover be assured I shall not dissimulate again. As a friend, or whatever you wish, however, I advise you to think carefully before yourefuse an offer made in good faith and to your own advantage. "

Listening, Harry Randall straightened. His lips closed tightly for asecond. "You mean, I presume, " the words were painfully exact, "to remindme that you hold my note for four hundred dollars, and to imply--" hehalted significantly. 

For a moment the other man said nothing, the face of him told nothing. Then deliberately, from an inner pocket, he drew out a leather wallet, from the wallet a strip of paper, and held it so the other could read. Still without a word he tore it to bits. 

"The devil take your note!" he observed, succinctly and without heat. 

"Mr. Roberts, you--" Randall's face was crimson, "you--"

"Yes--I--"

"You didn't mean--that, then, really?"

Roberts said nothing. 

"I'm grateful for the confidence, believe me. It's not misplaced, either. Accept my assurance of that too. "

"My name is Roberts, not Shylock. I told you before I am American born, of American parents. "

"I beg your pardon, " abjectly. The red had left Randall's face and in itsplace, as on a mirror, was forming another look, of comprehension--andmore. "Yet you--advised; and if not that--" of a sudden he got to hisfeet. Something was coming he knew to a certainty--something unexpected, vital--and he felt better able so to meet it. "Just what did you mean?"

Roberts was studying him deliberately, with the peculiar analytical lookArmstrong of old had known so well. 

"You can't imagine yet, " he queried, "not with the motive you fanciedeliminated?"

"You wish to do me a kindness, a disinterested kindness. For whatreason?"

"Cut out my motive, providing I have one, for the present. It'simmaterial. "

"That doesn't help--I can't conceive--" On a sudden came a flash of lightthat augmented to a blaze. "Can it concern Margery and me? Is that it?"

Roberts did not look up. "Yes, " he said. 

"You know, then, " tensely. "How much?"

"Everything. " Roberts inspected the wall-paper opposite as thoughinterested. "If you'll permit me I'll help you to avoid an action fordivorce. " A pause. "One, moreover, I can't help but feel somewhatjustified. "

For long, very long, there was silence absolute. Then, adequate timehaving passed, apparently Roberts lost interest in the wall pattern. 

"Sit down, please, " he suggested. "At last it seems we understand eachother. Let's talk things over a bit. "

CHAPTER III

FRIENDSHIP

"Very well, I'm listening. "

It had come about, that return of composure, more quickly than a strangerwould have thought possible, perhaps more quickly than the visitor hadexpected. At least for a moment he did not follow the obvious lead. 

"Particularly I'm waiting for an explanation of that word 'justified' youused. " The voice this time was low. "You recall you said 'justifiableaction, ' do you not?"

"Somewhat justifiable, yes. "

Randall looked straight before him. 

"Don't you agree with me?" added Roberts. 

"Frankly, no. I admit I'm biassed, however--at least I trust I'm not acad, unable to acknowledge a deficiency when shown. "

"Or to administer the remedy, providing that remedy is provedinnocuous?"

"Yes; I trust that also. "

"Very well, we'll return to 'justifiable' qualified. It will make thingseasier perhaps. You don't wonder how I happen to know about yourtrouble?"

"There could be only one explanation. "

"Thank you. That simplifies matters also. " A halt; then the fundamentalquestion direct: "Will you trust me to help you, trust meunqualifiedly?"

"Yes, " no hesitation, no amplification, just that single word, "yes. "

Darley Roberts remained for a moment quite still. 

"Thank you, again, " he said. "I have had few compliments in my life, andthat is one. " Again he sat quite still, all but the great hands, the onlyfeature of him that ever showed restlessness or rebellion. "To beginwith, " he resumed suddenly, "I am a lawyer, not a preacher. My businessis with marriage the contract, not marriage the sacrament. Sentiment hasno place in law. Contracts are promises to deliver certain tangibleconsiderations; otherwise there would be none. Again contracts arespecified or implied; but morally equally binding, equally inviolable. Inthe eye of the law when you married Margery Cooper you contracted, byimplication, to deliver certain considerations, chief among them onepurely psychological--happiness. By implication you did this. Is it notso?"

"Yes, by implication. "

"Have you fulfilled that contract?"

"I have tried. "

"The law does not recognize attempts. We're ignoring the Church andsentiment now. Have you fulfilled your contract?"

"No; I failed. "

"You admit it freely?"

"Yes; I can't do otherwise. "

"Let's drop the legal point of view then. You know why you failed?"

"Yes, and no. A contract carries a mutual obligation. Margery failedalso. "

Roberts flashed a look. 

"Do you desire a separation, too?" incisively. 

"No, God, no!" It was sudden panic. "I love her. "

"And she loves you, " evenly. "She'll return, unquestionably--and in thefuture will go again as inevitably, unless you fulfil your contract. It'slife. "

Again Harry Randall stared straight before him, the weight of theuniverse suddenly on his shoulders. 

"Fulfill--" he halted. "Supposing I can't fulfill?"

"Wait. We'll discuss that in a moment. First, you admit there was acertain justification for what she has done?"

No rebellion this time, no false pride. 

"Yes, " simply; "you were right. I admit it. "

"The contract of implied happiness then; you failed because--"

Randall completed the sentence as was intended. "Because we could notlive, cannot live, as Margery demands, upon what it is possible for me tomake. There is absolutely no other reason. "

"She is extravagant, you think?"

"For the wife of one in my position, yes. "

"I didn't ask you that. Is she extravagant, for herself as she is?"

Against his will the first suggestion of color showed on Randall's face. 

"I fail to see the distinction, " he said. 

"In other words, " remorselessly, "you question my right to wield theprobe. You prefer not to be hurt even to effect a cure. "

"No, I repeat that I'm not a cad. Besides, I've told you I trust you. When a woman marries a man, though, with her eyes open--" He caughthimself. "Pardon me, I'm ashamed to have said that. To answer yourquestion: no; Margery wasn't extravagant in the least by her standard. "

"You mean by 'her standard, '" apparently Roberts had heard only the lastsentence, "the habit and experience of her whole life, of twenty-twoyears of precedent when you married her. "

"Yes. "

"And of generations of inheritance back of that. The Coopers are an oldstock and have always been moderately wealthy, have they not?"

"Yes, back as far as the record goes. "

"Very good. Can you, by any stretch of the imagination, fancy Mrs. Randall, being as she is, ever living happily in an atmosphere sodifferent from that she has known, which time and circumstance have madeher own? Can you?"

"No. " The voice was low again, very low. "In my sane moments, never. "

Roberts waited deliberately, until the pause added emphasis; with equaldeliberation he drove the wedge home. 

"And still, in the fulness of this knowledge, you contracted byimplication to deliver to her this same thing--happiness, " he said. 

A second Harry Randall waited, then unconsciously he passed his handacross his face. 

"Yes, " he echoed, "in the fulness of knowledge I did it. I loved her. "

"Loved? And yet you sacrificed her! And on top of that again labelled herrebellion unjustified!" He was silent. 

Again Harry Randall's hand passed across his face, and this time it cameback damp. 

"God, you're hard on me!" he said. "I deserve it, though, and more. Shewas ignorant absolutely of what it meant to count pennies and denyherself. She couldn't realize, couldn't!"

Roberts said nothing. The leaven was working. 

"I hoped, deluded myself with the belief, that it would be different; yetfrom the first I knew better. I was to blame absolutely. I simply lovedher, as I do now--that was all. "

"Yes. " This time the voice was gentle, unbelievably gentle. "I think Iunderstand--think I do. Anyway, " the voice was matter of fact again, startlingly, perhaps intentionally, so, "we're wandering from the point. The past is dead. Let's bury it and look into the future. Do you see thesolution yet?"

Randall looked up swiftly. He smiled; the smile of a noncombatant. 

"Yes, I see it; I can't help seeing it; but--" The sentence completeditself in a gesture of impotency confessed. 

"Don't do that, don't!" The annoyance was not simulated. "It'sunforgivable. .. . You're healthy, are you not?"

"Yes. "

"And strong?"

"Reasonably. "

"Well, what more can you ask? The world's full of work; avalanches of it, mountains of it. It seems as though there never was so much to be done asnow, to-day; and the world will pay, pay if you'll do it. Can't you seelight?"

Randall caught himself in time to prevent a second gesture. 

"No, frankly, I can't. I've tried, but I'm fundamentally incapable. "

Roberts' great fighting face flashed about. 

"You've tried--how?"

Randall hesitated, and once again the color mounted his cheek. 

"I do my work here in the department the best I can, creditably, I think;but still there isn't much to look forward to, nothing adequate. "

"And that's as far as you've tried?"

"Yes; I have no other training. "

Roberts looked at him, merely looked. 

"No other training!. .. You fancy this little university, this littlebounded, contracted circle, is the world? You've tried! Let me see yourhands. "

Higher and higher mounted the tell-tale color; obedient as a schoolboyRandall obeyed. Something compelled. 

Again Roberts looked and turned away. "A woman's hands; I fancied so. .. . And you hoped to fulfil your contract, defied fate--with those hands!"His own worked, and under command went still. "You agreed to let me helpyou, did you not?" he digressed suddenly. 

"Yes. "

"And promised to trust me? I wish that understood clearly in thebeginning. "

"Yes, " again. 

"Very well, then, that brings us back to the starting-point. I repeat myproposal that Mrs. Randall and you change your residence immediately. Must I analyze further?"

"No, I understand--and appreciate. I accept too if Margery--" he haltedwith a wry smile. "Do you think she--would if I asked her?"

Roberts' expression did not alter. "Supposing you write her and findout, " he suggested. "And in the meantime you'll have three days tosettle in your new home, " he added irrelevantly. 

Again Randall colored, like a youth planning on building his first nest. The contagion of the thing was upon him, the infinite, rosy possibilitiesmanifest. 

"I can do it easily, " he said, "and she'll be surprised--and pleased--Ican fancy the way she'll look now. " Second thought intruded. "I'm afraid, though, the few things we've got here won't even make an impressionthere. The place is so big by comparison. "

"That's all right, " easily. "I said I'd want to take a hand. " He had aseeming inspiration. "Supposing you get Miss Gleason to help you andsuggest what more is needed. I'm sure she'd do it for Mrs. Randall andyou. I'll speak to her too. "

"Just the thing. I'd like that immensely. No one can help that way likeElice. "

"Let's consider it settled then. " His point carried, Roberts' great handswere loose in his lap again. "I had just one other matter I wished tospeak about to-night. How'd you like to accept a position under me withthe new company?" He did not elaborate this time, did not dissimulate. "I'll personally guarantee you four thousand a year, beginning Januaryfirst, with three weeks' vacation. "

"How would I like it!" For the third time Harry Randall fell to polishinghis glasses; but this time, in spite of an effort to prevent, his handshook visibly. "You don't need to ask me that. It would be a miracle;only--only I'm a bit afraid of a position of that kind--afraid it wouldbe too big. "

"The company would expect you to earn it, of course, " impassively. 

"But I'm not worth it. I know that and I don't want to accept under falserepresentations. It's beyond me. "

"Beyond nothing!" curtly. "If I say you're worth it, you are. I'll makeyou so--help if necessary. Do you accept?"

"Accept, yes, and thank you. I won't protest, or presume to misunderstandyour intent in offering it to me. I realize you're giving me a chance tomake good where I failed to fulfil my obligation with Margery. " The voicewas not so steady as it might have been and for an instant Randallhalted. "If you don't mind, though, " he went on, "I'd like to ask you aquestion. I can't conceive why you, a stranger, practically, should doall this for me. I'm simply confused, it's all so unprecedented. Why doyou do it, please?"

Into Darley Roberts' eyes crept the old odd smile that spread nofarther. 

"You mean it's all so unprecedented--of me, " he returned bluntly. 

Randall said nothing. It was true. 

"Wasn't that what you meant?" he repeated, and just for a second thesmile crept beyond the eyes. 

"Yes. It's useless to lie. "

"--To me?"

This time Randall's face flamed undeniably. 

"Yes--to you, " he admitted. "You're positively uncanny. "

"Don't do it then, " shortly, "ever. To answer your question: The mainreason, I think, is because to-day is December the sixth--a holiday. "

"A holiday!" Randall stared, as in the morning Herbert had stared. 

"With me. .. . Another reason is that I've been an under dog myself for avery long time and--perhaps, though, I am mistaken. "

"No, I'm one of the breed unquestionably. "

"And under dogs have a fondness for each other instinctively. "

Randall held his peace. He had the quality of presentiment and it wasactive now. 

"There was still a third reason. " No smile in the blue eyes now, just animpassive blank. "I had a call a few days ago from an upper dog, byheredity. He offered me a thousand dollars cold not to do--what I've justdone. "

Randall was not a good gambler. His face whitened to the lips. 

"You refer to Margery's father, " he said. 

"Yes. It seemed to me well, under the circumstances, for you to know. Hewas strongly in favor of letting matters drift. I gathered he has neverbeen particularly fond of you. "

"No, never. But Margery--"

"I understand absolutely. Take this for what it is worth from adisinterested observer: Your wife is square, man, from the ground up. Don't ever for an instant, because you were reared differently and have adifferent point of view, fancy otherwise. Tote your end of the loadfair--I believe you see how now--and she'll tote hers. It'll be worthyour while. "

"Roberts!" Randall was upon his feet, he could not do otherwise. "Honestly I don't know how to thank you. Anything that I can say, can doeven--"

"Don't try, please. I'd rather you wouldn't. " No pretence in that frankaversion, no affectation. He arose as one whose labor is over. "Let it goat that. "

In sheer perplexity Randall frowned. His hands sought his pockets. 

"But, confound it, I don't like to. It's so inhumanly ungrateful. " Thefrown deepened. "Besides, when this intoxication is off I'll realize whata lot I'm accepting from you. That house, for instance. You didn't buy aplace of that kind for an investment or for yourself alone. I'm not anabsolute ass. You'll want it all some of these times, and then--"

Slowly Roberts faced about; equally slowly he smiled. 

"Would it relieve your mind any, " he finally asked, "if I were to promiseto tell you the moment I do want it--all?"

"Yes, a lot. "

"I give you my word then. "

"Thanks. I believe that too; but--"

For the second time Roberts smiled, the smile of finalityunquestionable. 

"Must we return and go through it all again?" he asked. "It's aftermidnight now, but if you wish--"

"No; not that either. "

"All right. I'll send the office-boy around in the morning to help youmove. He has nothing else really to do. " Roberts paused at a suddenthought. "By the way, I'll not be back until a week from to-morrow. Suppose we have a little housewarming, just we four--strangers, thatnight?" and before the other could answer, before the complex suggestionin its entirety took effect, he was gone. 

CHAPTER IV

COMPREHENSION

It was three o'clock in the afternoon of a sultry July Sunday when a bigred roadster drew up all but noiselessly and, with an instinct common toall motorists, a heritage from an equine age past, stopped at the nose ofthe hitching-post in front of the Gleason cottage. In it the singleoccupant throttled down the engine until it barely throbbed. Alighting, goggles on forehead, he passed up the walk toward the house. Not until hewas fairly at the steps did he apparently notice his surroundings. Then, unexpectedly, he bared his head. 

"Be not surprised, it is I, " he said. "Not in the spirit alone but in theflesh. " Equally without warning he smiled. "Needless to say I'm glad tosee you again, Elice, " as he took the girl's offered hand. Thendeliberately releasing it: "and you too, Armstrong, " extending his own. 

Precisely as, with his companion of the shady porch, he had risen uponthe newcomer's advent, the other man stood there. If possible his face, already unnaturally pale for a torrid afternoon, shaded whiter as aninstant passed without his making a motion in response. 

"And you too, Armstrong, " Roberts repeated, the smile still on his face, the hand still extended; then, when there still came no response, thevoice lowered until it was just audible, but nevertheless significant inits curt brevity: "Shake whether you want to or not. There are sevenpairs of eyes watching from behind that trellis across the street. "

Armstrong obeyed as though moved by a wire. 

"Speak loud, so they can all hear. They're listening too, " directed thelow-voiced mentor. 

Armstrong, red in the face now, formulated the conventional. 

"Thanks. " Roberts sat down on the top step, his big-boned body at ease, his great bushy head, in which the gray was beginning to sprinkle thick, a contrast to the dark pillar of the porch. "I just returned an hourago, " he added as casually as though food for gossip had not been avoidedby a hair's breadth and was not still imminent. "It's good, unqualifiedly, to be back. "

Armstrong returned to his seat, a bit uncertainly. His hands weretrembling uncontrollably; in self-defence he thrust them deep into hispockets. 

"Have you been out of town?" he asked. 

"Yes, for over a month. " No affectation in that even friendliness. Helaughed suddenly in tolerant, all but impersonal, self-analysis. "And I'mtired--tired until the marrow of my bones aches. " He laughed again. "Itseems as though I never was so tired in my life. "

Armstrong looked at him, in a sudden flash of the old confidence andadmiration. 

"I beg your pardon, then, " he said hurriedly. "I didn't know that you hadbeen away, of course, and rather fancied, from your coming sounexpected--And that again after two years almost--You can understand howit was possible, can't you? I'm ashamed. "

"Certainly I can understand, " easily. "Let's all forget it. I havealready. " He smiled an instant comprehensively fair into the blue eyes, then characteristically abruptly he digressed. "By the way, Elice, " hesaid, "can't we have some of those cookies of yours? I've dreamed ofthem, along with other things, until--Do, please, if they're in stock. Imean it. Still down at Phelps's are you?" he asked the other directlywhen the girl had gone. 

"No. " A long pause wherein Armstrong did not look up. "I--left there acouple of weeks ago. I'm not doing anything in particular just now. "

The cookies, far-famed and seemingly always available, were on hand, andRoberts relapsed into silence. From her own seat behind them EliceGleason sat looking at the two men, precisely as she had looked thatfirst evening they had called in company. 

"That's a new motor out there, isn't it?" she asked at last. 

"Yes. " Roberts roused and shook the scattered crumbs off his khaki coat. "It came while I was away. This is the first try-out. "

Miss Gleason was examining the big machine with a critical eye. "This isa six-cylinder, I judge. What's become of the old four, Old--"

"Reliable?"

"Yes. "

"Disgraced its name. " Roberts smiled peculiarly. "I took it along with mewhen I went West. It's scrapped out there on the Nevada desert, Godknows where, thirty miles from nowhere. I fancy the vultures arewondering right now what in the world it is. "

"You had an accident?"

"Rather. " Roberts got to his feet deliberately. "Some other time I'lltell you the story, if you wish. It would take too long now, and it'sentirely too hot here. " He looked at his two listeners impartially. "Besides, there's other business more urgent. I have a curiosity to seehow quickly the six-eighty out there will eat up thirty miles. It'sguaranteed to do it in twenty-five minutes. Won't you come along?

"I'll take the rumble and you two sit forward, " he added as theyhesitated. "You can drive as well as I can, Elice. "

"Not to-day; some other time, " declined Armstrong, hurriedly. He startedup to avoid a change of purpose, and to cover any seeming precipitancylit a cigarette with deliberation. "I was going, really, anyway. "

Roberts did not insist, nor did he dissimulate. 

"As you wish. I meant it or I shouldn't have made the suggestion. Betterglue on your hair if you accept, Elice. I have a presentiment that I'lllet her out to-day. " He started down the walk. "I'm ready when you are. "

Behind him the man and the girl exchanged one look. 

"Come, Steve, " said the girl in a low voice. "I ask it. "

"No, " Armstrong's thin face formed a smile, a forced, crooked smile; "Imeant what I said, too, or I wouldn't have refused. Likewise I also havea presentiment--of a different kind. Good-bye. "

"Steve!"

"No. "

And that was all. 

Out in the long street, University Row, glided the big red roadster;slowly through the city limits, more rapidly through the suburbs, then, as the open country beyond came to view, it began gradually to finditself. 

"Want to see her go, do you, Elice?" asked Roberts, as the town behindthem grew indistinct in a fog of dust. 

"Yes, if you wish. "

"If I wish. " Roberts brought the goggles down from his foreheadsignificantly. "If I wish, " he repeated, the inflection peculiar. Helooked ahead. The broad prairie road, dust white in its July whiteness, stretched straight out before them, without a turn or a curve, direct asthe crow flies for forty miles, and on through two counties, as he knew. A light wind, begot of their motion alone, played on their faces, mingledwith the throbbing purr of the engine in their ears. "If I wish, " for thethird time; and notch by notch the throttle began to open. 

On they went, the self-evolved breeze a gale now, the throb of the bigmotor a continuous moan, the cloud of dust behind them a dull brown bankagainst the sky. On they went over convex grades that tilted gently firstto the right, then to the left, over culverts that spoke one single noteof protest, over tiny bridges that echoed hollow at the impact; pastdazzling green cornfields and yellow blocks of ripening grain, throughgreat shadows of homestead groves and clumps of willows that marked thelowest point of swales, on--on--

Roberts leaned over close, but his eyes did not leave the road for thefraction of a second. 

"Afraid, girl?" he asked. 

"No. "

Again the man looked ahead. They were fair in the open now, already farfrom the city. It was the heat of a blistering Sunday and not a team ora pedestrian was astir. Ahead, for a mile, for miles perhaps, as far asthey could see, not an animate dot marred the surface of the taut, stretched, yellow-white ribbon. 

"Shall I let her out, Elice?"

"Yes. "

"Sure you're not afraid--in the least?"

"Certain. "

Again the throttle lever and its companion spark began to move around thetiny sextant, approaching nearer and nearer. Simultaneously, sympathetic, as though actuated by the same power, the hand of the speedometer on thedash began to crawl up and up. They had been all but racing before; butnow--

Behind them the cloud of dust rose higher and higher, and darker anddarker as the suction increased. To either side was no longer yellow andgreen distinct, but a mingling, indistinct, mottled unreality. Ahead theribbon of yellow and white seemed to rise up and throw itself into theirfaces; again and again endlessly. The engine no longer moaned. It roaredas a fire under draft. The wind was a wall that held them back like avise in their places. In the flash of a glance the man looked at the faceof the dial. The single arm was pasted black over the numeral sixty. Once more the throttle advanced a notch, the spark lever two--and thehand halted at sixty-five. The wind gripped them afresh, and like humanfingers grappled with them. Up, fairly level with their eyes, lifted theadvancing yellow-white ribbon. By his side, though he did not look, theman knew that the girl had covered her face with her hands, wasstruggling against the gale to breathe. He was struggling himself, through wide-opened nostrils, his lips locked tight. On his bare handsthe sweat gushed forth and, despite the suction, glistened bright. Yetonce more, the last time the throttle moved, the spark--and met on thesextant. With its last ounce of power the great car responded, thrilled;one could feel it, a vital thing. Once again the speed-hand on theindicator stirred; but this time the man did not see it, dared not lookeven for the fraction of a second. Like grim death, grim life, he clungto the wheel; his eyes not on the road beneath but a quarter of a mileahead. About him the scuttling earth shaded from motley to gray; but hedid not see. A solitary tree loomed ahead beside the ribbon, and seemedto crack like a rifle report as they flashed past. At the radiator vent atiny cloud of steam arose, caught the gale, and stung damp on hischeeks. Far ahead, then nearer and nearer miraculously, a blot of greenthat he knew was the tree fringe of a river, took form, swept forward tomeet them, came nearer and nearer, arose like a wall--

Back into neutral, separating until they were once more opposite, wentthe two companions of the sextant. Simultaneously again the speedindicator followed the backward trail. Incredibly swift the galedwindled, until it barely fanned their cheeks. The roar of the greatengine subsided, until once more it was a gentle murmur. The vivid greenand the dull yellow of summer took their respective places; and like alive thing, beaten and cowed, the big car drew up at the very edge of thegrove, left the yellow road-ribbon, rustled a moment amid thehalf-parched grass and halted in the shadow blot of a big watermaple--thirty miles almost to a rod from the city limits they had left. 

A moment the two humans in the seat remained in their places, breathinghard. Deliberately, almost methodically, Roberts wiped the sweat from hisface. 

"Thirty-two minutes, the clock says, " he commented. "We dawdled though atfirst. At the finish--" He looked at the indicator peculiarly. "I'dreally like to have known, for sure. "

The girl stood up. She trembled a little. 

"Would you really? Perhaps--"

"You looked, Elice? I fancied you shut your eyes. "

"I did--only for a second. It read seventy-two. "

Roberts turned a switch and the last faint purr ceased. 

"I imagined, almost, you'd be afraid, " he said evenly. 

"I was--horribly, " simply. 

"You were; and still--I won't do it again, Elice. "

Without a word the girl stepped to the ground. In equal silence the manfollowed. Taking off the long khaki coat he spread it on the ground amidthe shadow and indicated his handiwork with a nod. For a half-minuteperhaps he himself remained standing, however, his great shoulderssquared, his big fingers twitching unconsciously. Recollecting, hedropped on the grass beside her. 

"Pardon me, Elice, " he apologized bluntly, "for frightening you. " Hesmiled, the infrequent, tolerant, self-analytic smile. "I somehowcouldn't help doing what I did. I knew it would break out sometime soon. I couldn't help it. "

For a moment the girl inspected him, her head, just lifted, resting onher locked arms, her eyelids half closed. 

"You knew--what? Something's happened I know; something unusual, very. Inever saw you before as you are to-day. I'd almost say you had nerves. Doyou care to tell me?"

Roberts was still smiling. 

"Do you care to have me tell you?" he countered. 

"Yes, if you wish. "

"If I wish--if I wish--you told me that once before, you recall. "

"Yes. "

"And I proceeded to frighten you--horribly. You said so. "

"Yes, " again. 

"Does that mean you wish to be frightened again? Do you enjoy it?"

"Enjoy it? I don't know. I'm curious to listen, if you care to tell me. "

Roberts had stretched himself luxuriously on the cool sod. He looked upsteadily, through the tangled leaves, at the dotted blue beyond. 

"There's nothing to frighten you this time, " he said. "Nothing to tellmuch, just--money. "

"I gathered as much. "

"And why, Elice?"

"Several reasons. First of all, a practical man doesn't carry anautomobile half across the continent by express without a definite stakeinvolved. Later he doesn't 'scrap, ' as you say, that same machine withoutregret unless the stake was big--and won. "

"You think I won, then?"

"I know. "

"And again, why?"

The girl flashed a glance, but he was not looking at her. 

"Because you always win, " she said simply. 

"Always?" A pause. "Always, Elice?"

"Always in matters of--money. "

The man lay there still, looking up. Barely a leaf in the big maple wasastir, not a single sensate thing. Had they been the only two peoplealive on a desert expanse they could not have been more isolated, morecompletely alone. Yet he pursued the lead no further, neither by word norsuggestion. Creeping through a tiny gap a ray of sunlight glared in hiseyes, and he shifted enough to avoid it. That was all. 

In her place the girl too shifted, just so she could see him moredistinctly. 

"Tell me about it, " she said. "I'm listening. "

"You're really interested? I don't care to bore you. "

"Yes, really. I never pretend with you. "

Slowly Roberts sat up, his head bare, his fingers locked over his knees. 

"Very well. I 'phoned, you remember, that I was going West to look at amining claim. "

"Yes. "

"What I should have said, to be exact, was that I was going to file onone, if it wasn't too late. I'd already seen it, on paper, and ore fromit; had it assayed myself. It ran above two hundred dollars. It was oneof those things that happen outside of novels oftener than peopleimagine. The man who furnished the specimens was named Evans, --a big, raw-boned cowboy I met down in the Southwest, where I've got an interestin a silver mine. He'd contracted the fever and worked for our companyfor a time. When the Nevada craze came on he got restless and wanted togo too. He hadn't a second shirt to his back so I grub-staked him. Nothing came of it and I staked him again. This time he came herepersonally to report. He had some ore with him and a map; just that andnothing more. Whether he'd found anything worth while he didn't know, didn't imagine he had, as it was a new section that hadn't produced asyet. He hadn't even taken the trouble to secure his claim. What he wantedwas more money, grub money; and he had brought the specimen along as ateaser. He swore he hadn't mentioned the matter to a soul except me. There wasn't any hurry either, he said, or danger. The prospect was fortymiles out on the desert from Tonopah, no railroad nearer, and no one wasinterested there much as yet. If I'd advance him another thousand, though--I'd been backing him a thousand dollars at a time--he'd go backand file regular, and when I'd had an assay made, if the thing lookedgood, he'd sell to me outright for five thousand cash. "

For the first time the speaker halted, looked at the listener directly. 

"Still interested, are you?" he queried. "It's all money, money fromfirst to last. "

"Yes, go on. I think I saw this man Evans, didn't I, around with you forseveral days?"

"Possibly. I kept him here while I was getting a report. I'd seen someore before and the scent looked warm to me. Besides, I knew Evans, andunder the circumstances I felt better to keep him in sight. I did for aweek, night and day. He never left me for an hour. He'd been eating mybread and salt for a year, had every reason to be under obligation andloyal, was so tentatively, his coming proved that; but, while one has totrust others up to a certain point in this world, beyond that--I've foundbeyond that it's better not to take chances, even on obligation. .. . Haveyou ever known anything of the kind yourself?"

The girl was not looking at him now. "I've had little experience withpeople, " she evaded, "very little. Go on, please. I'm interested. "

"Well, the report came the day I 'phoned you, on the last delivery. Evanswas killing time, as usual, about the office and I called him into myprivate room and locked the door. I read it through to him aloud, everyword; and, he didn't seem to take it all in at first, again. All at oncethe thing came over him, the full meaning of that assay of two hundreddollars to the ton--and he went to pieces, like a fly-wheel that's turnedtoo fast. He simply caved. For ten years he'd been chasing the rainbow ofchance, and now all at once, when he'd fairly given up hope, he'dstumbled upon it and the pot of gold together. It was too much for him. 

"This was at five o'clock in the afternoon, I say. At six o'clock Iunlocked the door and things began to move definitely. What happened inthat hour doesn't matter. It wasn't pleasant, and under the circumstancesno one would believe me if I told; for I had his written promise to showme the ledge he'd found and to sell whatever right he had to the claimhimself to me for twenty-five thousand dollars. .. . I found it, I have anincontestable title to it, and I refused a million dollars flat for itless than three days ago!"

In her place the girl half raised, met the speaker eye to eye. 

"And still, knowing in advance it was worth a fortune, Evans sold toyou. "

"Yes, voluntarily; begged it of me. I said no one would believe me now, even you--I don't care for the opinion of any one else. "

"I don't doubt you, not for a second. " The brown eyes had dropped now. "But I can't quite understand. "

"No, I repeat once more, no one can understand who wasn't there. He wascrazy, avariciously crazy. He wanted the money then, then; wanted to seeit, to feel it, that minute. It was his and he wanted it; not the fivethousand he'd promised, but five times that. He wouldn't wait. He wouldhave it. 

"I tried to reason with him, to argue with him, offered him his own termsif he'd let me develop it; but he wouldn't listen. If I wouldn't accepthe'd throw me over entirely, notwithstanding the fact that I'd made thefind possible, and sell to some one else--sell something he didn't have;for at last it all came out, why he'd gone crazy and wouldn't wait. He'dlied to me previously. Before he'd left Tonopah he'd talked, told of hisfind to a half-dozen of his friends, and left them specimens of the sameore he'd brought me. He'd told them everything, in fact, except thelocation. It developed that he had retained judgment enough to keep backeven a hint of that; and they were waiting for him there, --he knew it andI knew it, --waiting his return, waiting to learn the location, and tosteal his claim before he could stake it himself. "

"And still, feeling certain of that in your own mind, you paid him hisprice!"

"Every dollar of it--before I took the midnight train West. I raised itafter business hours, in a dozen different ways; but I got it. I pooledfor security everything I had in the world--except Old Reliable; I keptthat free for a purpose, --my house, my library, my stock in the tractioncompany, some real estate I own. I had to give good measure because I hadto have the money right then. And I got it. It was a pull but I got it. "

The girl's head was back on her folded arms once more, the long lashesall but covering her eyes. 

"Supposing Evans had been lying to you after all, " she suggested, "inother things besides the one you mentioned. "

Over Roberts' face flashed a momentary smile. 

"I told you we were locked in that room together for an hour. He wasn'tlying to me after that time had passed, rest assured. Besides, I wasn'tentirely helpless or surprised. I'd been out in that country myself andEvans wasn't the only man I had reporting. I'd been waiting for a chanceof this kind from the day the first prospect developed at Goldfield. Iknew it would come sometime--if I waited my chance. "

"So you gambled--with every cent you had in the world. "

"Yes. All life is a gamble. If I had lost I was only thirty-five and theearth is big. Besides, to all the world I was still 'old man' Roberts, not 'Darley. ' There was yet plenty of time--if I lost. "

"You went West that same evening, you say. " The long lashes were all buttouching now. "What then?"

"Yes, with Evans in the same Pullman section and Old Reliable in theexpress car forward. I had an idea in my head and followed it out. I feltas certain as I was of my own name that they'd have scouts out to wireahead when Evans was coming; so it wouldn't be any use to get off at anobscure place. I also knew that the chances were I couldn't get aconveyance there at once for love or money; so Old Reliable wasalready--good and ready. Every tank was full. The tonneau was packed: tengallons extra gas, five gallons of water, a week's rations--everything Icould think of that we might need. We'd go through to the end of theline, all right, but if I could help it we shouldn't wait long after wegot there. And we didn't. "

This time the girl did not interrupt, either with comment or gesture;merely lay there listening. 

"Ten minutes after we struck town we were away, under our own power. Itwas night, but we were away just the same. And that's where we got thelead, --a half hour's lead. They knew, all right, that we'd come, fanciedthey knew everything--but they hadn't planned on Old Reliable. It tookthem just that long to come to and make readjustment. Then the real funbegan. There was no moon, and out on the desert the night was as dark asa pocket. We simply had to have a light even if it gave us away. Evansthought he knew the road; but, if there ever was one, before we'd goneten miles we'd lost it. After that I drove by compass entirely--andinstinct. But I couldn't go fast. I didn't dare to. For an hour and ahalf--the indicator showed we'd gone twenty-four miles--we had everythingto ourselves, seemingly the entire world. We hadn't heard a sound or seena live thing. Then, as we came up on a rise, Evans looked back and saw alight, --just one light, away, away back like a star. A few secondsafterward it disappeared and we made a couple more miles. We mounted asecond rise and--this time Evans swore. He was with me by this time, bodyand soul, game to the finish; for the light wasn't starlike now by anymeans. It didn't even twinkle. It just simply rose up out of the ground, shone steady, vanished for a time, and rose up anew with the lay of thecountry. They were on our trail at last, they couldn't miss it. It wasplain as a wagon road, and they were making two miles to our one. Theymust have had a good car; but anyway everything was with them. They coulddrive to the limit by our trail; but I couldn't, for I didn't know whatwas ahead. I let her out, though, and Evans watched. He didn't swear now, he just watched; and every time that light showed it was nearer. Atlast, --we'd made thirty-two miles by that time, --he saw two lights behindinstead of one--and saw them red, I judge, for how he swore! It was thenor never and I opened the throttle to the last notch and we flew overeverything, through everything until--we stopped. "

"You struck something?"

"Yes. I don't know what nor didn't stop to see. The transmission went, Iknew that. The engine was still threshing and pounding when we took toour heels. We could hear it and see the two lights coming and weran--Lord, how we ran! It seems humorous now, but it wasn't humorousthen. There was a fortune at stake and a big one; for a claim belongs tothe chap who puts up the monuments. We ran straight ahead into the night, until we couldn't run another foot; and then we walked, walked, ten milesif an inch, until the two lights of Old Reliable became one, and thenwent out of sight entirely. Then we lay down and panted and waited fordaylight. .. . That's about all, I guess. "

"They didn't follow you, then?" The girl was sitting up now, the browneyes wide open. 

"They couldn't. A hound might have done so, but a human being couldn'tthat night. " Roberts dropped back to the grass, again avoiding the riftof light. "At daylight Evans got his bearings, and that day we found theclaim, built our monuments, tacked up the notice and the rest. I learnedafterwards there were six men in the machine behind; but I never saw anyof them--until the day I left. They made me an offer then. "

"And Old Reliable?"

Roberts hesitated, then he laughed oddly. 

"I paid a parting visit there too. The remains weren't decent junk whenthe same six got through expressing their feelings that night. "

CHAPTER V

FULFILMENT

An hour had passed. As the afternoon sun sank lower the shadow blotbeneath the big maple had lengthened and deepened. In consequence theannoying light-rift was no more. Overhead the leaves were vibrating, barely vibrating, with the first breath of breeze of evening born. Otherwise there was no change; just the big red roadster and the man andthe girl idling beside. 

"Poverty, work, subservience, " conversation had drifted where it would, at last had temporarily halted, with the calendar rolled back twentyyears; "poverty, work, subservience, " the man had paused there to laugh, the odd, repressed laugh that added an emphasis no mere words couldexpress. "Yes; they're old friends of mine, very old friends, very. I'mnot likely to forget the contrast they've made, ever, no matter what thefuture holds. "

"You've not forgotten, then, what's past, --overlooked it? Isn't itbetter to forget, sometimes, --some things?"

"Forget?" The man was looking straight up into space. "I wish I couldforget, wish it from the bottom of my soul. It makes me--hard at times, and I don't want to be hard. But I can't ever. Memory is branded in toodeeply. "

The girl was picking a blade of grass to pieces, bit by bit. 

"I'm disappointed. I fancied you could do anything you wished, " she saidlow. "That's what has made me afraid of you sometimes. "

The man did not stir. 

"Are you afraid of me sometimes, really?" he asked. 

"Yes, horribly--as much afraid as when we were coming out here to-day. "

"I'm sorry, Elice, sorry for several reasons. Most of all because I loveyou. "

It was the first word of the kind that had ever passed between them. Yetneither showed surprise, nor did either change position. It was as thoughhe had said that gravitation makes the apple fall, or that the earth wasround, a thing they had both known for long, had become instinctivelyadjusted to. 

"I knew that, " said the girl gently, "and know too that you're sorry I amafraid. You can't help it. If it weren't true, though, you wouldn't beyou. "

The man looked at her gravely. 

"You think it will always be that way?" he asked. "You'll always beafraid at times, I mean?"

"Yes. You're bigger than I am. I can't understand you, I never canwholly. I've given up hope. We're all afraid of things we can'tcompletely understand. "

Silently the man passed his hand across his face, unconsciously; his armfell lax at his side. As the girl had known, he did not follow the lead, would not follow it unless she directed the way. 

"You said you fancied I could forget what's past, " he said at last. "Didyou honestly believe that?"

"Yes, or ignore it. "

"Ignore it--or forget!" The fingers of the great hands twitched. "Somethings one can't ignore or forget, girl. To do so would be superhuman. You don't understand. "

"No; you've never told me. You've suggested at times, merely suggested;nothing more. "

"You'd like to know why--the reason? It would help you to understand?"

"Yes; I think it would help. "

"It might even lead to making you--unafraid?"

A halt this time, then, "Yes, it might possibly do even that. "

Again the man looked at her for long in silence, and again very gravely. 

"I'll tell you, then, " he said. "It isn't pleasant for me to tell nor foryou to hear; but I'd like you to know why--if you can. They're all back, back, the things I'd like to forget and can't, a very long way. They datefrom the time I first knew anything. "

The girl settled deeper into the soft coat, her eyes half closed. 

"You told me once you couldn't remember your mother even, " shesuggested. 

"No, nor my father, nor any other relatives, if I ever had any. I wassimply stranded in Kansas City when it was new. I wasn't born there, though, but out West on a prairie ranch somewhere. The tradition is thatmy parents were hand-to-mouth theatrical people, who'd got the free homecraze and tried to live out on the west Kansas desert, who were dried outand starved out until they went back on the road; and who then, ofcourse, didn't want me. I don't know. Anyway, when my brain awoke I wasthere in Kansas City. As a youngster I had a dozen homes--and none. I wasany one's property--and no one's. I did anything, accepted whateverProvidence offered, to eat. Animals must live and I was no exception. Thehand seemingly of every man and woman in the world was against me, and Iconformed to the inevitable. Any one weaker than I was my prey, any onestronger my enemy. I learned to fight for my own, to run when it waswisest, to take hard knocks when I couldn't avoid them--and say nothing. It was all in the game. I know this isn't pleasant to hear, " hedigressed. 

"I'm listening. Go on, please. "

"That was the first stage. Then, together with a hundred other similarlittle beasts, a charitable organization got hold of me and transplantedme out into the country, as they do old footsore hack horses when theyget to cluttering the pavement. Chance ordained that I should draw an oldNorwegian farmer, the first generation over, and that he should draw me. I fancy we were equally pleased. His contract was to feed me and clotheme and, --I was twelve at the time, by the way, --to get out of me inreturn what work he could. There was no written contract, of course; butnevertheless it was understood just the same. 

"He fulfilled his obligation--in his way. He was the first generationover, I repeat, and had no more sense of humor than a turtle. He saw thatI had all I could eat--after I'd done precisely so much work, his ownarbitrary stint, and not a minute before. If I was one iota short I wenthungry as an object-lesson. He gave me clothes to wear, after every othermember of the family had discarded them, in supreme disregard forsuitability or fit. He sent me to school--during the months of Januaryand February, when there was absolutely nothing else to do, and when Ishould have been in the way at home. At times of controversy he wasmighty with the rod. He was, particularly at the beginning of ourintimacy, several sizes larger than I. It was all a very pleasantarrangement, and lasted four years. It ended abruptly one ThanksgivingDay. 

"I remember that day distinctly, as much so as yesterday. Notwithstandingit was a holiday, I'd been husking corn all day steady, from dark untildark. There was snow on the ground, and I came in wet through, chattering cold, hungry, and dog-tired--to find the entire family hadleft to celebrate the evening with a neighbor. They did that often of aholiday, but usually they left word. This time they'd forgotten, ordidn't care. Anyway, it didn't matter, for that day had been the laststraw. So far as I was concerned the clock had struck twelve and a newcircuit had begun. 

"I looked about the kitchen for supper, but there was none, so Iproceeded to prepare one suitable to the occasion. Among other things, the farmer raised turkeys for the market and, although the season waslate, there were a few birds left for seed. I went out to the barn with alantern and picked the plumpest gobbler I could find off the roost, andan hour later had him in the oven. This was at eight o'clock in theevening. While he was baking I canvassed the old farmer's wardrobe. I'dgrown like a mushroom those last years and, though I was only sixteen, asuit of his ready-made clothes was a fair fit. I got into it grimly. Ialso found a dog-skin fur coat and, while it smelled a good deal like itsoriginal owner, it would be warm, and I laid it aside carefully forfuture reference. 

"Then came supper. I didn't hurry in the least, but I had a campaign inmind, so I went to work. When that bird was done I ate it, and everythingelse I could find. I had the appetite of an ostrich, and when I wasthrough there wasn't enough left for a hungry cat. I even consideredtaking the family cat in to the feast, --they had one, of course, and italways looked hungry, too; but I had a sort of pride in my achievementand I wanted to leave the remains as evidence. 

"It was ten o'clock by this time and no one had shown up. I waspositively sorry. I'd hoped the old farmer would return and find me. Ihad a few last words to say to him, some that had been lying heavy on mymind for a long time. But he didn't come, and I couldn't wait any longer;so I wrote them instead. I put on the dog-skin coat and started away onfoot into the night. If I'd had money I would have left the value of theclothes; but he'd never given me a dollar in all those four years, so Itook them on account. It was two miles to town and I made it in time tocatch the ten-forty-five freight out. 

"I forgot one thing, though. I went back after I'd got started a quarterof a mile to say good-bye to the horses. I always liked horses, and oldBill and Jerry and I had been good friends. I rode the pilot of thatengine and got into Kansas City the next morning. That was the secondstage. .. . Still interested, are you, Elice?"

"Yes. "

"Next, I landed in the hardwood region of Missouri, the north edge of theOzarks. It was the old story of one having to live, and I'd seen an ad inthe papers for 'loggers wanted. ' I had answered it, and the man in chargedropped on me like a hawk and gave me transportation by the first train. Evidently men for the job were not in excess, and when I'd been there aday I knew why. It was the most God-forsaken country I'd ever known, awayback in the mountains, where civilization had ceased advancing fiftyyears before. The job was a contract to deliver so many thousand feet oflumber in the log daily at the mill on the nearest railway. There was afive-mile haul, and we worked under a boss in crews of four. Each crewhad to deliver eight big logs a day, seven days in the week, threehundred and sixty-five days in the year. How it was done, when they werecut, when hauled, was not the boss's affair--just so the logs came. Whenwe of the crews ate or slept was no one's affair--just so we kept on thejob. No single man could handle one of those big cuts, no single muleteam haul it in places over those cursed mountain roads. That's why weworked in crews. On the average we worked eighteen hours a day. In summerthis was long, in winter it seemed perpetual; but I was in it and I wasgoing to stick--or thought I was. The other three in my gang weremiddle-aged men, --hard drinkers, good swearers, tough as oak themselves. The boss was a little tobacco-eating, bow-legged Irishman. I never, before or since, knew a man who could swear as he could, or drink so whenhe struck town. It seems to go with the logging business; but he was amaster. 

"I struck this place in the winter. It was in the winter following, againby chance on a holiday, but Christmas this time, that I quit. They don'thave much cold down in that country and usually but little snow; but thisyear there had been a lot, --soft, wet snow, half rain, that melted on theground and made the roads almost impassable. For that reason we'd beengetting behind in our contract. We simply could not make two trips a day;and Murphy, the boss, grew black and blacker. He swore that if wecouldn't make but one trip a day on that one haul we'd have to carry twologs each instead of one. The thing was barely possible on good roads, wholly impossible with the ground softened; but he was the boss, his wordlaw, and before daylight on this Christmas morning we were loaded and onthe road. 

"I was on the head wagon with Murphy behind me, the other threefollowing. The first half-mile was down grade and we got along all right. Then came the inevitable up grade following and the team began toflounder. They were mules, of course, --horses could never have stood fora day the grief of that mountain hauling, --great big-framed, willingfellows that in condition would pull anything any team could pull; butnow they were weak and tired, and so thin that their bones almost stuckthrough their hides from the endless grind. They did their best, though, and struggled along for a few rods. The wheels struck a rock in the roadand they stopped. I urged them on and they tried again, but the loadwouldn't budge. There was but one thing to do, --to double with the teambehind, and I slid off to make the coupling. 

"Murphy had been watching it all in silence, --a bad sign with him. Whenhe saw what I was going to do he held up his hand to the rear team, whichmeant:'Stay where you are. ' 'Give over the lines, ' he said to me. 

"I knew what that meant. I'd seen him cripple animals before; but thatwas when I first came. Since then I'd had another year to grow and to gethard and tough. I was going on eighteen and as big as I am now almost;and I wasn't afraid of him then or of any human being alive. 

"'It's no use, ' I answered. 'We may as well double and save time. '

"He said something then, no matter what; I was used to being sworn at. 

"'No, ' I said. 

"He jumped off the load at that. I thought it was between us, so I jerkedoff my big mittens to be ready; but the mules' turn was to come first, itseems. He didn't wait for anything, just simply went at them, like amaniac, like a demon. I won't tell you about it--it was too horriblybrutal--or about what followed. I simply saw red. For the first time andthe last time in my life, I hope, I fought a man--fought like a beast, tooth and nail. When it was over he was lying there in the mud we'dmade, unconscious; and I was looking down at him and gasping for breath. I was bleeding in a dozen places, for he had a knife; but I nevernoticed. I suppose I stood there so for a minute looking at him, theother three men who had come up looking at me, and not one of us saying aword. I reached over and felt of him from head to foot. There were nobones broken and he was breathing steadily. So I did what I suppose was acruel thing, but one I've never regretted to this day, though I've neverseen him since. I simply rolled him over and over in the mud and slushout of the road--and left him to come to. After that we pulled off thesecond log from each of the four wagons and left them there beside thetrack. Then we drove on to town, leaving him there; sitting up by thattime, still dazed, by the side of the road. There was just one loggingtrain a day on that stub, and when we pulled into town it was waiting. Without a word of understanding, or our pay for the month, the four of ustook that train and went our four separate ways. That's the thirdstage. .. . Begin to understand a little, do you, Elice?"

"Yes; I begin, just begin, to understand--many things. "

Roberts shifted position silently, his arms crossed under his head for apillow. But he was still looking straight up, through the gently rockingleaves at the infinite beyond. 

"The next stage found me in a southern Iowa soft-coal mine. Theexplanation is simple. I had saved a few dollars; while they lasted Idrifted, and to the north. When they were gone I had to work or starve. Ihad no education whatever, no special training even. I was merely a big, healthy animal, fit only for hard, physical work. I happened to be in afarming and mining community. It was Winter and there was nothing to doon a farm, so by the law of necessity I went to work heaving coal. 

"I stayed there a little over seven months and during that time Iscarcely saw the sun. I'd go into the tunnel at seven in the morning, take my lunch with me, and never come out until quitting time. I workedseven days in the week here too. There wasn't any union and, anyway, noone seemed to think of doing differently. At first it used to worry me, that being always in the dark. My imagination kept working, picturingsunlight and green things; after a bit that stage passed and I used todread to come out of the tunnel. The glare hurt my eyes and made me blinklike an owl in the daytime. I felt chilly, too, and shivered so my teethchattered. But I stuck to it, and after a few months the thing seemednatural and almost as though I'd been there always. I began to cease tothink and to work unconsciously, like a piece of machinery. I even quitcounting the days. They were all the same, so what was the use? I justworked, worked, and the coal dust ground into me and sweated into meuntil I looked more like a negro than a white man. 

"Time drifted on this way, from Winter until Spring, from Spring untilSummer; at last the something unusual that always comes about sooner orlater happened, and I awoke. It was just after dinner one day and I'dgone back to the job. I had a lot of loose coal knocked down in the driftand was shovelling steadily into a car when, away down the main tunnel, Isaw a bunch of lights bobbing in the darkness. It wasn't the time of dayfor an inspection, and anyway there were several people approaching, so Iwaited to see what it meant. 

"They came on slowly, stopping to look at everything by the way. At lastthey got near enough so I could make them out; there were three men and awoman. I recognized one of the men by this time, --our foreman, Sharp. Hewas guiding the others and I knew then they were visitors, ownersprobably, because no stranger had ever come before while I was there. Thewoman, I saw that she was a girl now, called one of the men 'father'; andfrom the way she spoke I guessed why she was along too. She'd comeanyway, whether they approved or not. The drift I was working in was anew one, just opened; and when they got there the whole group stopped alittle way off, and Sharp began explaining, talking fast and givingfigures. If any of the men saw me they didn't pay any attention; theyjust listened, and now and then one of them asked a question. But thegirl wasn't interested or listening. She was all eyes, looking about hereand there, taking in everything; and after a bit she noticed the light inmy cap and came peering over to see what it meant. I just stood therewatching her and she came quite close, all curiosity, until finally shecould see my face. She stopped. 

"'Oh, ' she said, 'I thought it was just a light. It's a man. '

"'Yes, it's a man, ' I said. 

"She was looking at me steadily by this time, wholly curious. 

"'A--a white man?' she asked. 

"I thought a moment, then I understood. 

"'Yes, a white man, ' I answered. 

"She came up to the car at that and looked in. She glanced back at me. Evidently she wasn't entirely satisfied. 

"'How old are you?' she asked. 'You look awfully old. '

"I leaned over on the car too; I'd begun to think. I remembered that tome she seemed so very, very young; and all at once it flashed over methat probably I wasn't a day older. 

"'Eighteen, ' I said. 

"'Eighteen!' She stared. 'Why, I'm eighteen. And you--have you been herelong?'

"I suppose I smiled. Anyway I know I scared her. She drew back. 

"'I don't know, ' I said. 'I've forgotten. If you'll tell me the datemaybe I can answer. I don't know. '

"'You don't know! You can't mean that. '

"'Yes, I've forgotten. '

"She didn't say a word after that, just looked at me--as a youngsterlooks when it goes to the circus for the first time. I fancy we stoodthere half a minute so; then at last, interrupting, the man she'd called'father' looked over and saw us. He frowned, I could see that, and saidsomething to the foreman. He spoke her name. "

Just for a moment Roberts shifted his head, looking at his silentlistener steadily. "What do you fancy was that name he called, Elice?"

Elice Gleason started involuntarily, and settled back in her place. 

"I haven't the slightest idea, of course. "

"It wasn't an ordinary name. At that time I'd never heard it before. "

"I'm not good at guessing. "

Roberts shifted back to his old position. 

"It was 'Elice. ' 'Elice, come, ' he said. 

"The daughter hesitated. I imagine she wanted to ask me several thingsyet, --whether I had cloven feet, for instance, and lived on spiders; butshe didn't. She went back to the other three and they moved on. That wasthe last I saw of them. 

"I worked the rest of that day, did about three men's work, I remember. That night I drew my pay and went to bed; but I didn't go to sleep. Idid a lot of thinking and made up my mind to something. I decided I'dbeen the under dog long enough. I haven't changed the opinion since. Nextday I saw the sun when it was straight overhead and soaked the coal dustout of my skin--as much as possible. .. . That's all of the fourthstage. .. . Hadn't I better stop?"

The girl shook her head, but still without looking at him. 

"No; I want to learn what you did after that, after you woke up. "

"I went West. I hadn't seen the sun or the sky for so long that I washungry for it. In Omaha I fell in with a bunch of cattlemen and, as Ialways liked to handle stock, that settled it. I accepted an offer asherder; they didn't call it that, but it amounted to the same. I had ahalf-dozen ponies, rations for six months, and something under a thousandhead of stock to look after. By comparison it wasn't work at all; only Iwas all alone and it took all the time, day and night. I didn't sleepunder a roof half a dozen nights from July to October. When the cattlebunched at night I simply rolled up in a blanket where they were andwatched the stars until I forgot them; the next thing I knew it wasmorning. I had hours to read in though, hours and hours; and that wasanother thing I was after. For I could read, I wasn't quite illiterate, and I was dead in earnest at last. When the Fall round-up came I quit andwent to Denver, and portered in a big hotel and went to night school. 

"There isn't much to tell after this. I drifted all over the West and theSouthwest during the next few years. I got the mining fever andprospected in Colorado and California and Arizona; but I never struckanything. I learned something though; and that was that it isn't thefellow who makes a find who wins, but the chap who buys the prospect, almost invariably. That was useful. Every Winter I landed in a big cityand went to school, --night school or mining school or commercial school. Finally it dawned upon me that I was taking the long road to an end, thatthe short cut was to be really ready to do a thing before making theattempt. I decided to go to a university. That would take years, andmeantime I had to live. I could make a living in a little city easierthan a big one, so I came here. .. . You know the rest. "

Elice Gleason sat up, her fingers locked over her knees. 

"Yes, I know the rest; but--" She was silent. 

"But you don't wholly understand, " completed the other. "You don't, evenyet, do you, Elice?"

"No, not entirely, even yet. "

"Why I can't forget when I wish or help being hard?"

"Yes, when you have such infinite possibilities now. "

"Now, " supplemented the man evenly, "when society at large couldn't poundme down any longer or prevent my getting out of their power. "

The girl did not answer. 

Deliberately Roberts sat up; no longer listless or tolerantlyself-analytic, but very wide awake, very direct. 

"I'll have to tell you a few more reasons, then; read between the lines abit. I never did this before to any one; never will again--to any one. But I must make you understand what made me as I am. I must; you knowwhy. Tell me to stop when you wish, I'll obey gladly; but don't tell meyou don't understand. 

"To begin again at the beginning. My parents abandoned me. Why? They werestarved to it, forced to it. Self-preservation is the first law. I don'tclear them, but I understand. They were starving and irresponsible. Imerely paid the price of relief, the price society at large demanded. 

"At the first home I had afterward the man drank, --drank to forget thathe, too, was an under dog. Some one again must pay the price, and I paidit. Now and then I'd succeed in selling a few papers, or do an errand, and earn a few pennies. After the manner of all lesser animals I'd try tohide with them; but he'd find me every time. He seemed to have a geniusfor it. He'd whip me with whatever was handy; at first for trying tohide, later, when I wouldn't cry, because I was stubborn. Finally, afterhe'd got tired or satisfied, he'd steal my coppers and head for thenearest bar. Once in January I remember a lady I met on the street tookme into a store and bought me a new pair of shoes. I hid themsuccessfully for a week. One day he caught me with them on--and pawnedthem. 

"The old farmer the charity folks traded me to was a Lutheran. Everymorning after breakfast he read prayers. He never missed a day. Thenhe'd send me out with one of his sons, --a grown-up man oftwenty-two, --and if I didn't do exactly as much work as the son I wenthungry until I got it done if it took half the night. He also had awillow sapling he relied upon when hunger didn't prove effective. He'dpray before he used that too, --pray with one hand gripping my neckband soI couldn't get away. I earned a dollar a day--one single solitarydollar--when I was logging oak in the Ozarks. Day after day when we wereon the haul I used to strap myself fast to the load to keep from going tosleep and rolling off under the wheels. I got so dead tired that I fellasleep walking, when I did that to keep awake. You won't believe it, butit's true. I've done it more than once. 

"I was sick one day in the coal mine, deathly sick. The air at times wasawful. I laid down just outside the car track. I thought I was going todie and felt distinctly pleased at the prospect. Some one reported me tothe superintendent. He evidently knew the symptoms, for he came with apail of water and soaked me where I lay, marked time, and went away. Ilaid there for three hours in a puddle of water and soft coal grime;then I went back to work. I know it was three hours because my time checkwas docked exactly that much. 

"When I was going to night school in Denver the day clerk, who'd got methe place, took half my tips, the only pay I received, to permit me tohold the place. It was the rule, I discovered, the under-dog penalty. 

"I said I never struck anything prospecting. I did. I struck a silverlead down in Arizona. While I was proving it a couple of otherprospectors came along, dead broke--and out of provisions. I divided foodwith them, of course--it's the unwritten law--and they camped for thenight. We had supper together. That was the last I knew. When I came toit was thirty-six hours later and I was a hundred miles away in a cheaphotel--without even my bill paid in advance. The record showed that claimwas filed on the day I disappeared. The mine is paying a hundred dollarsa day now. I never saw those two prospectors again. The present ownerbought of them square. I don't hold it up against him. 

"I went to night school all one winter in San Francisco with a fellownamed Stuart, another under dog like myself. We roomed together in ahall-bedroom to save expense and ate fifteen-cent dinners together at thesame soup-house. He clerked in a little tobacco store daytimes. I wasrunning an express elevator. We both saved a little money above what itcost to live. Things went on in this way for four months, until the endof the winter term. One morning when I woke up I found he'd gone. I alsofound that the little money I'd saved was gone. They went together. Inever saw either again. 

"I had another friend once, I thought. It was after I'd decided to comehere to the university. I was harvesting on a wheat ranch in Nebraska, making money to pay for my matriculation. He was a student too, he said, from New York State, and working for the same purpose. We worked theretogether all through harvest, boiled side by side in the same sun. Oneday he announced a telegram from home. His mother was dying. He was crazyalmost because he hadn't nearly enough money to take him back at once. And there his mother was in New York State dying! I lent him all I hadsaved, --seventy odd dollars; and he gave me his note, insisted on doingso--though he hoped the Lord would strike him dead if he failed to returnthe loan within four days. I have that note yet. Perhaps the Lord didstrike him dead. I don't know. 

"It was nearly September by this time and harvest was over, my job withit, of course; so I started on east afoot, tramping it. I wasn't aparticularly handsome specimen, but still I was clean, and I never askedfor a meal without offering to work for it. Yet in the three hundredmiles I covered before school opened I had four farmers' wives call thedog, --I recorded the number; and I only slept under a roof two nights. 

"Even after I came here, after--Elice, don't! I'm a brute to have donethis! From the bottom of my soul I beg your pardon. "

The girl was weeping repressedly, her face buried in her hands, her wholebody tense. 

"Elice, please don't! I'm ashamed. I only wanted you to understand; andnow--I'm simply ashamed. "

"You needn't be at all. " As suddenly as it had come the storm abated, under compulsion. "I wanted to know several things very much; and now Ithink I do know them. At least I don't wonder any more--why. " She stoodup decisively, disdaining to dry her eyes. 

"But we mustn't stop to chatter any more now, " she digressedpreventingly. "You made me forget all about time, and cooks should neverforget that. It's nearly sundown and father--he'll have been hungry fortwo hours. "

Roberts got to his feet slowly. If in the new light of understandingthere was more he had intended saying that day, or if at the suddenbarring of opportunity he felt disappointment, his face gave noindication of the fact. He merely smiled in tolerant appreciation of thesuggestion last made. 

"Doesn't your father know the remedy for hunger yet, at his age?" hequeried whimsically. 

"Knows it, yes, " with an odd laugh; "but it would never occur to himunless some one else suggested it. "

A pause, then she looked her companion full in the face, significantlyso. "He's dependent and irresponsible as a child or--as Steve Armstrong. They're helpless both, absolutely, left to themselves; and speaking ofthat, they're both by themselves now. " She started for the motor hastily, again significantly so. 

"Come, please, " she requested. 

CHAPTER VI

CRISIS

It was nearly dark when the big red car drew up in front of the Gleasoncottage and, the girl only alighting, moved on again slowly down thestreet. At the second crossing beyond, out of sight of the house, itswitched abruptly to the right for four blocks, into the poorer sectionof the town, and stopped before a battered, old-fashioned residence. Amiddle-aged man in his shirt sleeves sat on the step smoking a pipe. At anod from the driver he advanced to the curb. 

"Mr. Armstrong in, Edwards?" asked Roberts directly. 

The man shook his head. 

"Been here, has he?"

"Not since he left this morning; about ten o'clock it was. "

Roberts paused, his hand on the clutch lever. 

"Will you have him 'phone me when he comes, please?"

"Yes, certainly. "

"Thank you. "

The next stop was at the office, dark with a Sabbath darkness; but notfor long. Within the space of a few minutes after he came, every lightswitched on, the windows open wide, his coat dangling from a chair in thecorner, Roberts was at work upon a small mountain of correspondencecollected upon his desk, a mountain of which each unit was marked"personal" or "private. " At almost the same time a waiter from a near-by_café_ entered with a tray of sandwiches and coffee. Thereafter he ate ashe worked. 

An hour passed. The sandwiches disappeared entirely and the mountain grewslightly smaller. A second hour dragged by and the mountain suffered asecond decline. For the first time Roberts halted and glanced at theclock. A moment later he took down the receiver from the 'phone on hisdesk and gave a number. 

"That you, Randall? Has Armstrong been at your place to-night? Youhaven't seen him at all to-day, then. No; nothing. Just wanted to know, that was all. Good-night. "

Another half-hour passed; then, without pausing in his work, Robertspulled the buzzer lever for a messenger. When the latter appeared hescribbled a few lines on a sheet of paper, addressed an envelope, andgave it to the boy with half a dollar. 

"There's a mate to that coin waiting here for you if you can get me ananswer within half an hour, " he said. "You know the party, don't you?"

"Sure. Yes, sir. "

"Follow up the trail, then. You've lost one minute of your thirtyalready. "

For the third time he returned to his work, halting only when themessenger in blue returned. 

"Can't deliver it, sir, " explained the latter curtly. "I've been all overtown and no one has seen him. Thank you, sir. Good-night. "

For several minutes this time Darley Roberts sat in his desk chairthinking, quite motionless. The clock on the wall recorded midnight andhe compared the time with his watch to make certain of its accuracy. Oncemore he took down the telephone receiver. 

"This you, Elice?" he asked after a moment. "Can I be of service? Nevermind, no need to explain. I understand. I'll be right up. "

In spite of the city speed limit the big red car made those twelveblocks intervening in sixty-four seconds flat. 

 * * * * *

"How did you ever know?"--infinite wonder, infinite relief as well in thetone. "Tell me that, please. "

"I didn't know, of course. I merely guessed. Has it been long?"

Involuntarily the girl shuddered, then held herself steady with aneffort. 

"Yes, since dinner. He came while we were eating; and father--"

"I understand, " preventingly. "Don't worry. It's all over with now. Didany one else see--any of the neighbors, I mean?"

"I think not. It was after dark and--Oh, it's simply horrible!horrible!"

"Yes, " gently. "I appreciate that. Let's not speak about it. Your tworoomers are both in?"

The girl nodded. 

"They didn't suspect anything wrong either?"

"No, the hammock was dark--and father watched. They went right up totheir rooms without stopping. "

Roberts nodded, and looked out of the window. The light in the residencedistrict of the town was on a midnight schedule and was now cut off. Heturned back. A moment he stood so, silent, facing the girl there in thedimly lighted hall. Under a sudden instinct he reached out and laid ahand compellingly on each of her shoulders, holding her captive. 

"You don't misunderstand my intruding here to-night, do you, Elice?" heasked directly. 

"Misunderstand!" The girl looked at him steadily, the dark circles abouther eyes eloquent. "Never. How can you fancy such a thing! Never. "

"And you're willing to trust me to bring everything out right? It will beall right, take my word for that. "

Still the girl did not stir, but gazed at him. "Yes, I trust youimplicitly, always, " she said. 

A moment longer the hands held their place before they dropped. 

"All right, then, " he said perfunctorily, "go to bed. I'll take care ofSteve--to-night and in the future. Don't worry. Good-night. "

"Wait, " a hand was upon his arm, a compelling hand. "You mean--"

Roberts smiled deliberately, his slow, impersonal smile. 

"Exactly what I said. This will be a lesson Steve should never forget. Ican't imagine his repeating it--ever. Besides, I'll help him not to. Ihave a plan. "

"You mean to help him as--as you helped Harry Randall and Margery?"

A moment the man was silent, though he smiled. 

"No, not exactly. I'll merely assist him to help himself. I think perhapsit's only my duty anyway, that maybe I'm more or less responsible. By theway, don't be surprised if he disappears for a bit. He may possiblydecide to go out of town. That's all, for now. "

The girl drew a long breath. 

"You responsible!" she echoed. "If you're responsible, how, then, about--myself?"

"Elice!" Roberts cut her off peremptorily. "I refuse to listen. Go to bedat once, I insist. I'll come to-morrow and talk if you wish. Just nowit's all too near. Good-night again. "

An instant later, on the darkened porch without, he had the arm of thedoddering old man in the grip of a vise. 

"Leave everything here to me, " he said swiftly, "and see to Elice. " Hewas leading the other toward the entrance. "Listen. See that she goes tobed--at once; and you too. I'll attend to everything else. Trust me, " andvery gently he himself closed the door behind the other two. 

It was after office hours of the day following when Stephen Armstrong, abit pale but carefully groomed this time, entered the outer room ofDarley Roberts' office and, with decided reluctance, approached theprivate apartment beyond. The door was open. Seated before the big desk, shirt-sleeved as usual, Roberts sat working. As the newcomer approachedhe wheeled about. 

"Come in, " he said simply. "I'm glad to see you. "

The visitor took a seat by the open window and looked out ratherobviously. 

"I just received your note a bit ago, " he began perfunctorily, "andcalled instead of giving you an appointment, as you asked. It's the leastI could do after last night. " He halted, looking at the building oppositesteadily. "I want you to know that I appreciate thoroughly what you didfor me then. I--I'm heartily ashamed, of course. "

"Don't speak of it, please, " swiftly. "I've forgotten it and I'm sureMiss Gleason and her father have done the same. No one else knows, solet's consider it never occurred. It never will again, I'm sure, sowhat's the use of remembering? Is it agreed?"

Armstrong's narrow shoulders lifted in silence. 

"As for not speaking of it again, " he answered after a moment, "yes. Whether or not in the future, however--I'm not liar enough to promisethings I can't deliver. "

"But you can 'deliver, ' as you say, " shortly. "You know it yourself. "

Armstrong shook his head. 

"I'm not as bumptious as I was a few years ago, " he commented. "I'd havesaid 'yes' then undoubtedly. Now--I don't know. "

Roberts swung about in his desk chair, the crease between his eyessuddenly grown deep. 

"Nonsense, " he refuted curtly. "You're not the first man in the world whohas done something to regret. Every one has in some way or another--andprofited by the experience. It's forgotten already, I say, man. Let itpass at that, and go ahead as though nothing had happened. By the way, have you had supper--or do you call it dinner?"

For the first time Armstrong looked at the speaker and, forgetting forthe instant, he almost smiled. The question was characteristic. 

"I've already dined, thank you, " he said. 

Without comment Roberts called up the _café_ and ordered delivered hiscustomary busy-day lunch of sandwiches and coffee. 

"I'm going East on the eleven-fifty limited to-night, " he explained, "andthere are several things I've got to see to first. " In voluntaryrelaxation from work he slipped down in the big chair until his headrested on the back. Thereafter for a long time, for longer doubtless thanhe realized, he sat so, looking at the other man; not rudely orunpleasantly, but with the old, absent, analytical expression large uponhis face. At last he roused. 

"I suppose, " he began abruptly, "you're wondering what it is I wish tospeak with you about. I'll explain in advance that it's of your personalaffairs purely, nothing else. Would you prefer me not to intrude?"

For a moment Armstrong did not answer, but with an effort he looked atthe questioner directly. 

"If it were a couple of days back, " he said, "I should have answered'yes' emphatically. Now--" his glance wandered out the window, resting onthe brick wall opposite, "now I hardly know. You've earned a sort ofright to wield the probe; and besides--"

"Never mind the right, " shortly. "I tell you last night is forgotten. Imeant to see you and have the same talk anyway--with your permission. "

Still Armstrong hesitated, looking steadily away. "You've condoned thefact, then, that I've cut you dead on the street regularly?"

"I understood--and didn't blame you. There are dozens of people who knowOld Man Roberts and still never see him when passing face to face. It'sall in the game. "

At last Armstrong's glance returned, almost with wonder. "And you don'tlay it up against them?"

"Sometimes. Usually, however, not. Life's too short to play with toys;and enmities are toys--double-edged ones at that. You haven't answered myquestion yet. "

"I know; but just a moment more. Do you recall, by the way, a prophecy Imade once, years ago?"

"Yes; it never came true as far as I am concerned. "

"Perhaps you never had cause to have it do so. "

"Possibly. "

"With me it did come about. I've hated you ever since--from the day youleft. Do you realize why I haven't answered your question?"

"Yes, why you haven't. I'm still waiting. "

"I'm wondering, " mused Armstrong, "why I don't hate you, now that we'rehere together. I've thought a lot of bitter things about you, more thanabout any one in the world. I don't know why I don't say them now thatI've got the chance. "

"Yes, you have the chance. I'm listening. "

"I know. " Armstrong's long fingers were twitching nervously. Despite aneffort to prevent his lower lip trembled in sympathy. "And still, nowthat for the first time I have the chance, I can't. I don't want to. I--"Of a sudden an uncontrollable moisture came into his eyes, and he shiftedabout abruptly until his face was hid. "Damn you, Darley Roberts!" hestormed inadequately, "I don't want to a bit, but after all I trust youand--and like you. You have my permission to intrude. I want you to, havewanted you to a hundred times. " The Rubicon was crossed at last and hemade the admission that for long had trembled on his tongue. "Somehow Ican't get along without you and keep my nerve. I think you're the onlyperson in the world who even in a measure understands me, and can maybemake a man of me again. "

[Illustration: "You mean to suggest that Elice, " he began, "thatElice--You dare to suggest that to me?" (_Page 107_)]

In his place Darley Roberts sat looking at the other, merely looking athim. The silence grew embarrassing, lasted into minutes; but stillunconsciously he remained as he was. At last suddenly his eyes droppedand simultaneously the fingers of his big hands twitched in a way thatheralded action. Whatever the problem of that period of silence decisionhad come. 

"I think I understand what you mean, " he said deliberately. "Perhaps, too, it's true. I don't know. Anyway I'll try to play the game--try to. "He remembered, and the hands lay still. "By the way, you're not workingnow?"

"No. "

"Have you anything definite in sight?"

Despite the permission he had granted but a moment before Armstrongcolored; with an effort he met his questioner frankly. 

"No, " again. 

"That's good. It occurred to me that it might clear the atmosphere here abit if you went away for a time. What do you say to McLean's for a coupleof weeks?"

On Armstrong's face the red of a moment ago changed to white, a whitewhich spread to his very lips. 

"And take the cure, you mean! Do you think, really, it's as bad with meas that?"

"No, " bluntly; "I'd have said so if I had. But just because you might notcontract pneumonia is no reason for not wearing an overcoat when thethermometer is at zero. I'd go if I were you, just as I'd be vaccinatedif there was an epidemic of small-pox prevalent. "

"But the admission! A confirmed alcoholic!"

"Confirmed nothing. Your going is no one's business but your own. Theplace is a general sanatorium; it's advertised so. Anyway you will havegood company. The biggest bondholder in the Traction Company is therenow. Do you happen to have the money that you'll need convenient?"

"No. That's another rub; and besides--on the square, Darley, I don't needto do that--yet. I know after last night things look bad; but--"

"I understand perfectly. Let's not waste ammunition on a man of straw. The change will do you good, though, anyway. I'd go myself for the sakeof that big marble plunge if I could spare the time. " He was writing acheck swiftly. "Pay it back when something drops, " he proffered; "therewill be something develop soon--there always is. By the way, why not goalong with me to-night? It's on the same road. "

Armstrong accepted the slip of paper mechanically; a real moisture cameinto his eyes, and he held it back at arm's length. 

"Darley, confound you, " he protested, "I can't accept that. I simplycan't!"

"Can't--why? It's good. Try it anywhere down town. "

"You know I don't mean that; but--"

"Yes--" The big fingers were twitching ominously. 

"But after--what's past--"

"Wouldn't you make me a loan if positions were reversed?" shortly. 

"Yes, certainly; but--"

"Forget it, then. " Roberts turned back to his desk abruptly. "Pardon meif I go on working. I've simply got to clear this desk before I go. " Hewaited in silence until the other man started to leave; just as Armstrongreached the door he wheeled about. 

"You'll be with me at eleven-fifty sure, won't you?" he asked directly. 

Armstrong hesitated, his eyes averted. 

"Yes, " he said at last. 

"Good. I'll attend to the reservations for both of us. Travel East islight now and we'll have things practically to ourselves. There are anumber of other things I wish to talk with you about--and we'll have allnight to do it in. I suppose you'll see Elice this evening?"

Again Armstrong colored. "Yes, " he repeated uncertainly. 

"Tell her, please, for me that I'll be out of town for about three weeks. Meanwhile the car is subject to her order. I left directions at thegarage. If it's convenient for you to happen around this way about traintime there'll be a cab waiting. Good-bye until then. "

For two hours thereafter Roberts worked steadily--until every scrap ofcorrespondence on the desk had been answered or bore memoranda for theinstruction of the stenographer on the morrow. At last he took down the'phone. 

"Randall? There'll be a carriage call for my baggage shortly. It's allready. Thanks. By the way, have you that manuscript handy I spoke to youonce about? All right. Tuck it in somewhere while you think of it, please. You're still of the same opinion, that it's good; at least wortha hearing? Very well. It'll be published then. I'm accepting yourjudgment. Never mind how. This is between you and me absolutely. I'm notto figure--ever. If it goes flat he'll have had his chance. That's allany of us can have. By the way, again. I'm sorry to miss Mrs. Randall'sdinner-party. I'm not often honored in that way. Anyway, though, perhapsit's as well. I'm impossible socially; and, fortunately, I know justenough to realize it. Yes; that's all. Good-night. "

Thereafter he waited until he got "Central" on the wire. 

"Call me at eleven-thirty, " he requested. "I'll be asleep, so ring melong and loud. Eleven-thirty sharp, remember, please. "

He hung up the instrument with a gesture of relief and leaned back in hischair, his great bushy head against the bare oak, his big hands loose inhis lap. A half-minute perhaps he sat so--until the eyes slowly closedand, true to his word, and swiftly as a child at close of day, he fellasleep. 

At eleven o'clock the watchman of the building, noticing the light, cameto investigate. A moment he stood in the open door, an appreciativeobserver. On tiptoe he moved away. 

"Some one's paying good and plenty for this, " he commented _sotto voce_and with a knowing wag of the head. "The old man's all in--and he isn'tdoing it for his health alone, you bet!"

CHAPTER VII

TRAVESTY

Out in the street, in front of the Gleason cottage, the red car glistenedin the moonlight. In the shade of the familiar veranda Roberts tossed hisgauntlets and cap on the floor and drew forth two wicker rocking-chairswhere they would catch the slight midsummer night wind. 

"Hottest night of the season, I fancy, " he commented, as he helped hiscompanion remove her dust coat and waited thereafter until she was seatedbefore he took the place by her side. "Old Reliable number two certainlydid us a good turn this evening. Runs like an advertisement, doesn'tit?"

It was a minute before the girl answered. "Yes. It sounds cheap to sayso, but at times, like to-night, it almost seems to me Paradise. It makesone forget, temporarily, the things one wishes to forget. "

"Yes, " said her companion. 

"I suppose people who have been accustomed to luxuries all their livesdon't think of it at all; but others--" She was silent. 

"Yes, " said Roberts again, "I think I understand. It's the onecompensation for being hungry a long time, I suppose; the added enjoymentof the delayed meal when at last it is served. At least that's what thosewho never went hungry say. I hope you'll get a lot of pleasure out of themachine this Summer. "

The girl looked at him quickly. 

"I? Are you going away again?"

"Yes. I start West to-morrow. Things are moving faster than I expected. "

"And you won't take the car with you?"

"No, I shan't play again for a time. I always had a theory that a manshould know a business he conducts, not take some one else's word for it. I'm going to put on my corduroys and live with that mine until it growsup. I don't even know how long that will be. In a way to-night isgood-bye. "

The girl said nothing this time. 

"I meant what I said, though, in regard to the car, " returned Roberts. "Ishall be disappointed if you don't use it a lot. I've always felt asthough it sort of belonged to us together, we've had such a lot ofpleasure out of it in common. They tell me at the garage that while I wasaway last time it wasn't out at all. Didn't Steve deliver my message?"

"Yes. "

"Won't you promise to do differently the rest of the season?"

Again the girl paused before she answered. 

"No, " she said then. "You understand why?"

"Not if I request otherwise?"

"Don't request it, please, " swiftly, "as a favor. I repeat, youunderstand. "

"Understand, certainly, what you mean to imply. " The big hands on theman's knees drooped a little wearily. "You don't trust me wholly, evenyet, do you, Elice?" he added abruptly. 

"Trust you! That's a bit cruel. "

The man shifted in his seat unconsciously. 

"If it was I beg your pardon, " he said gently. "I didn't intend it so. Isuppose I'm wrong; but what others, mere observers, say seems to me sotrivial. The gossip of people who'd knife you without compunction theinstant your back was turned for their own gratification or gain--to letthem judge and sentence--pardon me once more. I shan't mention thematter again. "

The girl looked steadily out into the night, almost as though its peacewere hers. "Yes, " she returned, "you are wrong--but in a different waythan you intimated. It isn't what others would say at all that preventsmy accepting, but my own judgment of myself. You've done so many thingsfor me; and I in return--I'm never able to do anything whatever. It's amatter of self-respect wholly. One can't accept, and accept, and acceptalways--in the certainty of remaining permanently in debt. "

The man looked at her oddly. Then he glanced away. 

"No; I suppose not, " he acquiesced. 

"If there were anything I could do for you in turn to make up evenpartially; but you're so big and independent and self-sufficient--"

"Self-sufficient!" Roberts caught the dominant word and dwelt on itmeditatively. "I suppose I am that way. It never occurred to me before. "The big hands tightened suddenly, their weariness gone. "But let's forgetit, " he digressed energetically. "This is the last time I'll see you fora long time, months at least; and a lot can happen in months sometimes. The future is the Lord's, but the present is ours. Let's enjoy it whilewe may. What, by the way, are you going to do the remainder of theSummer?"

"Do?" The girl laughed shortly. "What I'm doing now, I fancy, mostly. Father will be away the first week in September. I promised Margery I'dstay with her during that time; otherwise--" A gesture completed thesentence. 

Roberts looked at her oddly. "Is that what you want to do--you?" he askedbluntly. 

"Want to do?" Again the laugh. "What does it matter what I want to do?"She caught herself suddenly. "Margery and I may go away to a lakesomewhere during that week, " she completed. 

"And after that?" suggested the man. 

"The university will be open then. I've secured a place thisyear, --assistant in English. "

"You're really serious, Elice?" soberly. "This is news to me, you know. You really purpose teaching in future?"

"Yes. " She returned her companion's look steadily. "Father was notreappointed for the coming session. He's over the age line. I supposedyou knew. "

"No; I didn't know before. " Without apparent reason Roberts stood up. Thegreat hands were working again. A moment he stood there so, the big bushyhead outlined distinctly against the starlit sky; with equal abruptnesshe returned to his seat. 

"What a farce this is you and I are playing, " he said. "Do you reallywish it to go on longer?"

The girl did not look at him, did not move. 

"Farce?" she echoed. 

The man gestured swiftly. 

"Don't do that, please, " he prevented. "You and I know each otherentirely too well to pretend. I repeat, do you wish this travesty to goon indefinitely? If you do I accept, of course--but--do you?"

Instinctively, as on a former occasion, the girl drew her chair fartherback on the porch, until her face was in the shadow. It was out of theshadow that she spoke. 

"Prefer it to go on? Yes, " she said; "because I wish you to remain as youare now. But really wish it, no; because it's unfair, wholly unfair. "

"Unfair to me?"

"Yes, to you. "

For the second time Roberts gestured. "Take that consideration out of thediscussion absolutely, please, " he said. "With that understanding do youstill wish this pretence to go on?"

"I wish to keep your friendship. "

"My friendship--nothing more? I'm brutally blunt, I realize; but I can'tlet to-night, this last night, go by without knowing something of how youfeel. You never have given me even so much as a hint, you know. I'vewaited patiently, I think, for you to select the moment for confidence;but you avoid it always; and to-morrow at this time--You know I love you, Elice. Knowing that, do you still wish me to go away pretending merelypolite friendship? Do you wish it to be that way, Elice?"

The girl ignored the question, ignored all except the dominantstatement. 

"Yes, I know you love me, " she echoed. "You told me so once before. "

"Once! A thousand times; you understood the language. It seems foolisheven to reiterate the fact now. And yet you've never answered. "

"I know. I said it was unfair; and still--"

"You won't answer even yet. "

"I can't. I'm drifting and waiting for light. Don't misunderstand; thatisn't religion--I've not been to church in a year, or said a prayer. Itisn't that at all. I simply don't want to hate myself, or be hated byanother justly later. "

"And you expect to drift on until that light comes?"

A halt, long enough for second thought or renewal of a decision. "I can'tdo otherwise. There's no other way. It's inevitable. "

"'Inevitable!'" Roberts shrugged impatiently. "I don't like the word. Itbelongs in the same class with 'chance' and 'predestination' and 'luck. 'There are few things inevitable except death. "

"This is one--that I must wait. "

"And you can't even take me into your confidence, about the reason why?Mind, I don't ask it unless you voluntarily desire. I merely suggest. "

"No, " steadily; "I can't tell you the reason. I've got to decide formyself--when light comes. "

Roberts' great shoulders squared significantly. 

"But if I know it already, " he suggested evenly, "what then?"

No answer, although the other waited half a minute. 

"I repeat: what if I know it already?"

"Do you know?"

Roberts' glance wandered into the shadow where the girl was, thenreturned slowly to the street and the red car. 

"I rode East with Steve Armstrong, " he said, "as far as he went. I alsowired him when I was coming, and we returned together. He told me, Ithink, everything--except about your father. He forgot that, if he knew. Do you doubt I know the reason, Elice?"

Out of the shadow came the girl's face, --the face only. 

"You did this for Stephen Armstrong--after what is past! Why?"

"Because life is short and I wanted to know several things before I cameto-night. Would you like to hear what it was I wished to learn?"

Again the face vanished. 

"Yes, " said a voice. 

"You know already, so it won't be news. One was that he still cares foryou--as always. He perjured himself once, because he thought it was hisduty; but he has never ceased to care. The other thing was that he'schanged his mind and is going back to his literary work. His novel, thatwas accepted tentatively, will be published next Winter. What else Ilearned is immaterial. I don't often venture a prediction, but in hiscase I'll make the exception. I believe that this time he'll make good. He has the incentive--and experience. Do you still doubt I know thereason, Elice?"

"No. But that you should tell me this!"

"I claim no virtue. You knew it already. I'm merely attempting tosimplify--to aid the coming of the light. "

For the second time out of the shadow came the girl's face, her wholefigure. "Darley Roberts, " asked a voice, "are you human, or aren't you? Idon't believe another man in the world would, under like circumstances, do as you have done by Steve Armstrong. I can't believe you humanmerely. "

The man smiled oddly; the look passed. 

"I have merely played the game fair, " he explained dispassionately, "ortried to, according to my standard. Like yourself, I don't want to hatemyself in the future, whatever comes. The hate of others--I'm indifferentto that, Elice. "

"And still you love me. "

"I shall never care for another, never. The time when I could, if it everexisted, is past. "

The white hands dropped helplessly into the girl's lap. 

"I thought I understood you, " she said, "and yet, after all--"

"We live but once, " gently. "I wish you to be happy, the happiestpossible. Does that help?"

"Yes, but--" In a panic the face, the hands, retreated back into theshadow again. "Oh, I'm afraid of you once more, afraid of you, " shecompleted. 

A moment the man sat still; then came his unexpected deliberate smile. 

"No; not afraid. I repeat you know me absolutely, and we're never afraidof things we know. I explained once before that that's why I went throughthe detail of telling you everything. You're not afraid of me in theleast, any more than I am afraid of you. "

"No?"

The smile still held. 

"No. "

"And still--"

"I repeat, it isn't fear of me that prevents your answering. " Like aflash the smile vanished. Simultaneously the voice dropped until it wasvery low, yet very steady. "You love me in return, Elice, girl. It isn'tthat!"

From the darkness silence, just silence. 

"I say, you love me in return. Can you deny it?"

Still not an answering sound nor a motion. 

Roberts drew a long breath. His big eloquent hands hung free. "Shall Iput in words the exact reason you won't answer, to prove I know?" heasked. 

"Yes. " The voice was just audible. 

A moment Roberts paused. "It's because you are afraid, not of me, but ofSteve Armstrong: afraid of the way the Lord fashioned him. Elice, comeout into the light, please. We must face this thing. You're not hismother, and you don't love him otherwise. Tell me, is a sentiment deadgreater than one living? Will you, must you, sacrifice the happiness oftwo for the happiness of one? Answer me, please. "

An instant the girl hesitated; obediently she came out into the light, stood there so, her hand on the pillar of the porch. She did not glanceat her companion, did not dare to do so. 

"I repeat, I can't answer you yet, " she said simply. "It's bitter, cruelto you, I know, and to myself; but it would be infinitely worse if--if Imade a mistake. " She paused, while a restless hand swept across herface. "I can't help feeling that I'm to blame a good deal already, thatif I hadn't changed, and shown the change--" She sat down helplessly, thesentence incomplete. "Oh, I can't bear to think of it. It drives me mad. To feel you have the responsibility of another's very soul on your hands, and to have failed in that trust--"

"Elice!"

"Don't stop me. It's true. If I had married him years ago when he firstwished me to do so he'd never have gone down. I cared for him then, orfancied I did so; and I could have held him up. But instead--"

"Elice! I won't listen. You're morbid and see ghosts where nothingexists. You're no more to blame for being human and awakening thanlightning is to blame when it strikes. " He stood up, suddenly. "Besides, the past is dead. To attempt to revive it is useless. The future alonematters; and it's that I wish to talk about. I can't bear to think ofgoing away and leaving you as you are now. It's preposterous. If youcared for Steve I shouldn't insist for a moment, or trouble you again solong as I lived; but you don't care for him. " He took a step forward, andstopped where she must look him in the face. "You don't care for him, that way, do you, Elice?" he asked. 

Straight in the eyes the girl answered his look. But the lips spokenothing. 

"And you do love me, love me, don't you, girl?"

Still not a word; only that same steady look. 

"Elice, "--the man's hands were on her shoulders, holding herimmovable, --"answer me. This is unbearable. Don't you love me? Say it. Imust know. "

Bit by bit the long lashes dropped, until the dark eyes were hid. "Ican't say it yet, " she said, "you know that. Don't compel me to. "

"Cannot or will not?"

Still no answer, merely silence. 

Just noticeably the man's big hands tightened their grip. "I can make youvery happy, Elice, girl, " he voiced swiftly; "I know it; because I havethe ability and I love you. I'll take you away, to any place in the worldyou wish to go, stay as long as you wish, do whatever you choose. I'llgive you anything you want, anything you ever wanted. I have the power todo this now, and I'll have more power in future. Nothing can stop me nowor prevent, except death alone. Say the word and I'll not go Westto-morrow. Instead, we'll begin to live. We're both starved for the goodthings that life has to offer. We'll eat our fill together, if you butsay the word. We've wasted years--both of us, long, precious years. There's a big, big debt owing us; but at last, at last--"

"Darley Roberts!"

The man suddenly halted, passive. 

"You don't realize what you're doing, what you're saying. It's unworthyof you. "

A moment longer the grip of the big hands still clung as it was. Theydropped, and the man drew back. 

"Unworthy?" He looked at her steadily. "Can you fancy I was tryingto--buy you? I thought you realized I love you. "

"I do. But--you're only making it harder for me--to do right. "

"Do right?" Once more the echo. "Right!" He laughed, as his companion hadnever before heard him laugh. "I wonder if it is right to make a certaincripple of one human being on the chance of making a real weakling lessweak? Right to--" a sudden tense halt. "I beg your pardon, " swiftly. "Ididn't mean that. Forget that I said it. " He stooped to pick up his capand gauntlets. When he came forward once more he was himself again, as hewould be from that moment on. 

"Don't fancy for a minute I mean to hurt you, or to make it harder foryou now, " he said steadily; "but this is the end, you realize, theturning of the ways--and I must be sure. You still can't give me ananswer, Elice?"

The girl did not look at him this time, did not stir. 

"No, not even yet. "

A pause, short this time. 

"And you won't reconsider about going to work for a living, won't let mehelp, as a friend, merely as a friend? You know me too well tomisunderstand this. It would mean nothing absolutely to me now to help, and would not alter our friendship, if you wish, in the least. Won't youlet me do this trifle for you if I ask it?"

Resolutely the girl shook her head, very steadily. 

"I understand and appreciate, " she said; "but I can't. "

A moment longer the man waited. He extended his hand. "There's nothingmore to be said, then, I fancy, except good-bye. "

For the first time in that long, long fight the girl weakened. Gropinglyshe found the extended hand; but even then the voice was steady. 

"Good-bye, " she said--and that was all. 

CHAPTER VIII

CELEBRATION

It had been a gay dinner, a memorable dinner. The mere ostensibleoccasion of its being in celebration of the publication of SteveArmstrong's first novel, "The Disillusioned, " would of itself have beensufficient reason therefor. In addition, the resignation, by a peculiarcoincidence to take effect the same day, of the former manager of theTraction Company, Darley Roberts, with a recommendation that wasvirtually a command for the advancement of his acting assistant, HarryRandall, to his place, added another reason no less patent. If a cloudexisted that evening to mar the happiness of those four long-time friendsgathered in commemoration of the dispensation of Providence jointlyenjoyed, it most emphatically had not lifted its head above the surface. Never had Margery Randall bubbled with more spontaneous abandon; or, evenin the old university days, had Elice Gleason laughed more easily. And asfor Steve Armstrong, the guest of honor, the conquering hero, --it washis hour and in its intoxicating completeness he had enjoyed it to thefull; had stretched it on and on that he might enjoy it again. Now, thelast course served, the last toast proposed and drunk in inadequatechocolate, and the two girl friends, after the habit of oldacquaintances, left to their own private confab, Randall and Armstrongdrifted instinctively upstairs to the former's den for their after-dinnersmoke. In absolute well-being, too keen almost for words, Armstrongdropped into a big leather chair, facing his host. 

"By Jove, Harry, " he commented explosively, "I tell you this is somethinglike living. I never enjoyed myself so much before in my life. "

Harry Randall, decidedly stouter than the Randall of professor days, smiled appreciatively as he selected a cigar from the convenienthumidor. 

"Yes, the world does look rather bright to me to-night, I'll admit, " heacquiesced. 

"Bright!" Armstrong laughed outright in pure animal exuberance. "It'spositively dazzling: the more so by comparison. " He looked at hiscompanion with the frank understanding of those long and intimatelyacquainted. "What a change a few short years can make sometimes, can'tthey? What an incredible change!"

Harry Randall returned the look, but gravely this time. 

"Yes, I've been thinking of that all the evening, " he said simply. 

"So have I. " Armstrong laughed shortly; "that is, when I haven't been tooirresponsibly happy to think at all. Just to get my bearings I tried tofancy myself back where I was once when I came to tell my troubles toyou; and went to pieces at the end of the narrative. " He gesturedeloquently. "What a fool I was and what a liar to swear I'd never do anymore literary work, or permit a book of mine to be published in anycircumstances, ever!" Once more the gesture, ending in anall-comprehensive shrug. "Bah! I don't like to think of it. The wholething's a nightmare, neither more nor less!"

Again Harry Randall did not smile. 

"Yes; the past was a little that way, " he echoed again. 

For perhaps half a minute Armstrong smoked in reminiscent gravity;swiftly as the shadow had intruded it passed. 

"Let's forget it, " he proposed, "forget it absolutely and never speak ofit again. By the way, do you own this place now?"

"No; Roberts still holds it. I made him an offer before he went away lastSummer, but he wouldn't even consider it then. I'll try again when hereturns. Margery wants it badly. "

"When he returns? Is he coming back soon?"

"I judge so, although I've had no word. There were a number of lettersand telegrams came for him yesterday, and a batch of them to-day. Isuspect that he intended being here to-night and is delayed for somereason. " Randall removed his glasses and polished them with unnecessarydiligence. "I wired him when I heard what he'd done for me, but I haven'thad any answer yet. I'd have given anything to have had him hereto-night. It was the one thing lacking. "

For a moment there was silence. 

"He has done a lot for you, Harry, that's a fact, " commented Armstrong, judicially. "Your new place at six thousand dollars a year is a prettygood thing even for these days. "

"A lot? Everything! He pulled me out of hell and gave me a chance whenI'd never have made one myself. I owe him everything; and I've neverbeen able to do him one blessed service in return. "

Armstrong squirmed uncomfortably. The usually reticent Harry Randall likethis was a novelty. 

"For that matter, he's done a lot for both of us, " admitted Armstrong, perfunctorily. "I appreciate it too, thoroughly. "

Randall looked up swiftly; in remembrance equally swift he turned away. 

"Yes; he's done miracles for both of us, more than we can possiblyrealize, " he said softly. "More--"

"Harry, " interrupted Margery Randall's voice from the stairway, "I'msorry to hasten you men, but Elice thinks she must go. Her father isn'twell, you know, and is at home alone. "

 * * * * *

"I'll wait, Elice. It's early yet. See how your father is and come downwhen you can. " Armstrong looked at her meaningly, with all but an appeal. "This is my night, you know. You really can't refuse to let me see youto-night. "

The girl busied herself with the lights and the gas in the grate. 

"I know, Steve; but really I'd rather not see any one longer to-night. "She took off her coat almost hurriedly. "It's a busy time for me nowbefore the holidays; and with father as he is--That's why I came away soearly, you know. Not to-night, please, Steve. "

Armstrong silently paced the length of the little library, pitifully barein comparison with the home they had just left. He halted. 

"Do you realize that you've invariably prevented, by one excuse oranother, my talking with you alone in months now?" he asked abruptly. "Don't you mean ever to give me a chance again? You know what it is Iwish to speak about, Elice. "

The girl was standing--quite still now. 

"Yes, I know what it is you wish, " she corroborated. 

Armstrong fingered the gloves in his hand nervously. "Aren't you going tolisten then? I won't attempt to make any apologies for the past. I can't. But I'd hoped you'd forgotten, or at least forgiven, by this time. I'vetried to make good, honestly, Elice; and to-night particularly--don'tstand me in the corner any longer, please. I've been punished enough. "

"Punished!" The girl wheeled. "I wonder--" She checked herself suddenly. "Very well, " she digressed swiftly, --"wait. I'll be back soon, " and shewas gone. 

Alone Armstrong threw hat and topcoat into a chair almost irritably;walking over to the grate, he stood gazing down into the blaze absently. For some reason it called to mind another grate and another occasion whenhe had looked absently therein; and almost unconsciously he caughthimself glancing at the shelf above, half expecting to catch the play oflight from a red decanter thereon. With the shrug of one who banishes anunpleasant memory he turned away. He was still standing, however, whenthe girl returned. 

"Is there any way I can assist, with your father?" he askedperfunctorily. 

"No, thank you. He's asleep. It's mental, the trouble with him, more thananything else. " She sat down and indicated a place opposite. "I'm so gladHarry Randall escaped in time. "

"And I as well?"

"Yes, and you, assuredly. "

Armstrong waited; but she said no more, and with an odd diffidence hecleared his throat unnecessarily. 

"It's sacrilege, though, for us to talk commonplaces to-night, " heanticipated hastily. "There's too much else to discuss, and to-day hasmeant too much. Do you realize what this day really means for both of us, Elice?"

The long fingers lay in the girl's lap, quite still. 

"Perhaps. But tell me if you wish. "

Again the fantastic diffidence held Armstrong in its grip; and again hefreed himself with an effort. 

"It means, first of all, that at last I'm on my feet, where I've alwayswished to be. It means that I'm to have my chance--and that again meansindependence. " He overlooked absolutely the egotism of the statement, wasunconscious of it. Success loomed too big and incontestible; possiblefuture failure lay too remote to merit consideration. "It means all ofthis; but beyond that it means that I have the right to tell you againthat I love you. You know I love you, as always, Elice. "

"As always?"

"Forget, please. This is to-day; my day, our day. You don't doubt I loveyou?"

"No; I don't doubt it. "

Armstrong breathed deep. An instinct all but overwhelming impelled him torise, to--he substituted with his eyes. 

"You realize all that I wish to say, " he said swiftly, "so why make afarce of it by words? We've drifted apart for a long time, a hideouslylong time, and it's been my fault throughout; but now that it's overwon't you come back to the beginning, Elice, to the place where weseparated?" He halted for breath, for words where none were adequate. "Iwant you, Elice, want you--now and always. Tell me, please, that you'veforgiven me, that you'll come back. "

In the girl's lap the hands crossed steadily; again that was the onlymove she made. 

"So far as I am concerned there's nothing to forgive, nor has there everbeen, " she said gently. "As for going back, though, I can't; because Ican't. It's useless to lie, for you'd find me out. I've simplyawakened. "

"You mean you--don't care for me any more?"

"No; I care for you very much; but not in that way. It was so before theend came. I awoke before that. "

"And still you would have married me then. "

"Yes, " simply. 

"And now?"

The girl did not answer, did not even look up. 

"And now, " he repeated insistently, "tell me; and now?"

This time the brown eyes lifted, met his steadily. 

"Unless something happens I can't marry you now, " she said. 

Armstrong looked at her; at first dazedly, then with a trace of colorgathering under his fair skin. 

"Unless something happens?" he repeated. "Pardon me, but what do you meanby that?"

"Nothing, " swiftly. "I was thinking of something else. I hate to hurtyou; but as I said before, it's useless to temporize. I can't marry younow, Steve. "

In his place Armstrong settled back dumbly. Unconsciously he passed hishandkerchief over his mouth. The hand that carried it trembled a bit. 

"You really mean that, do you?" he groped, half to himself, "mean thebreak to be really final this time?" He shut his eyes, like a childsuddenly awakened in the dark and afraid. "Somehow I hadn't expected thatat all, hadn't planned on it. I suppose it was childish of me; but I'vebeen taking things for granted, on the strength of the past, and--and--"Of a sudden the rambling tongue halted. The eyes opened wide, unnaturallywide; and in their depths was again that new look of terror, but nowmagnified. "Tell me that you don't mean it, Elice, really, " he pleaded. "I was just beginning to live and hope again; and now--tell me!"

Long before this the girl had ceased looking at him. Instead, with theinstinctive fascination an open fire exerts over all human beings, shehad turned toward the tiny jets of gas in the grate; her face propped inher hands she sat staring into the depths of the flame. She scarcelyseemed to breathe, even when she spoke. 

"Yes, I meant it, " she repeated patiently. 

For a long time there was silence, --long enough with the man for the moodto pass, the mood of terror, and in reaction its antithesis, recklessabandon, to come in its stead. For come it did, as was inevitable; andheralding its approach sounded a laugh, --a sudden mirthless, sarcasticlaugh. 

"So this is the end of my day, " he said. He laughed again. "I might haveknown it was too good to last. What a fool I was to imagine that justbecause one thing had come my way everything else was going to followsuit. What a poor, blithering fool!"

"Steve!" No lethargy in the girl's figure now, in the face of a suddenturned toward him appealingly. "Don't take it that way or say suchthings. Nothing has changed in the least. I'm still your friend, as I'vealways been; so is Harry Randall--and the rest. You're still a successfulwriter; you've proved it to-day, and you'll prove it further with the newbook you're working on now. I repeat, nothing has altered in the least. Don't talk that way. It hurts me. "

In his chair, erect now, Armstrong merely smiled. But his color washigher than normal and the blue eyes were unnaturally bright. 

"No, nothing has changed, I suppose, " he said evenly. "You're rightthere. I've simply been in a trance--that's all--and I've inadvertentlycome to. I seem to have the habit of doing that. " He smiled again, hopelessly cruel in his egotism. "Of course I have friendship, oceans ofit, yours particularly, as I've had all the time. And success; itmonopolizes the sky, fairly blots out the stars, and obscures the sunlike an eclipse. There's no end to the success I have. It's infinite. And still further, incentive: to be and to do and to fight. " The smilevanished. He could not mock in the face of that thought even yet. "Incentive! What a travesty. Elice, you've killed the last trace ofincentive I had just now. "

"Steve!" The girl's hands lifted imperiously. "Stop. Have you no pity?"She shook the swift-gathering flood from her eyes rebelliously and facedhim fair. "You'll be very sorry you said such things after you've hadtime to think, " she went on. "Don't add regret to the rest to-night. Please don't. "

"Sorry, perhaps, " echoed the man, "and regret--possibly. Anyway, whatdoes it matter? It's true. "

"True--no, " swiftly. "I can't believe it. I won't. Don't say that. Inpity, don't. "

"But, I repeat, it is true, " doggedly. "I at least can't help that. Elice, don't cry so!" Of a sudden he was on his feet bending over her. "Please don't. I love you!"

"Don't touch me! I can't stand it!" The girl had drawn away swiftly, therepression of years for an instant broken. "You dare to tell methat--now! Love--" She cut herself short with an effort of will and, rising hurriedly, walked the length of the room to the window. For morethan a minute, while Armstrong stood staring after her dumbly, sheremained so; her face pressed against the cold pane, looking out upon thewhite earth. Deliberately, normally, she turned. Seemingly without aneffort, so naturally that even Armstrong was deceived, she smiled. 

"Pardon me, " she said evenly. "I'm not often hysterical. " She wasreturning slowly. "I'll be glad when vacation comes. I think I'm--tired. "She seated herself and motioned the other back into his place, --a motionthat was a command. "Now, tell me, please, that you didn't mean what yousaid a moment ago when we were both irresponsible. It will make us bothsleep better. "

The smile had left Armstrong's face now, and in its place was the pallorof reaction. But he was quiet also. 

"I wish I could, " he said steadily, "but I can't. It'll be exactly as itwas before. "

The girl was still smiling, --that same normal, apparently effortless, smile. 

"Nonsense!" she refuted, in tones deliberately matter-of-fact. "There'sall the difference in the world. Before you had no audience. Andnow--the entire country will listen now. "

"It doesn't matter, " dully. "It's always been you that counted really. Success was an incident, but you were the real incentive. "

"I?" She laughed gently. "On the contrary it was I who tried to lead youaway from your work, to make you practical. Don't you remember the Grahamoffer?"

"Yes, " hurriedly. "I've thought of it a thousand times. It was the bigmistake of my life when I refused his proposal. If I'd accepted then--"

"You'd not have been a successful writer whose work goes on sale to-dayin every city in the United States. "

"Perhaps. But I would have had you. What do I care for success incomparison to you!"

Listening, just for an instant the girl's nostrils tightened; again shelaughed. 

"We seem to be travelling in a circle, " she bantered, "and keep returningto the starting-point. It's discouraging. "

"It's written, " said Armstrong, simply. "We can't avoid it. With meyou're the starting-point as you're the end, always. Didn't you recognizeyourself so in the last novel?"

The girl settled back in her seat wearily. 

"You told me, I recall, " she said. 

"And in the one before?"

"You told me that also. "

Armstrong was observing her steadily. 

"You are in the new one too, " he said; "the one I've been working on--butwhich will never be completed now. You've killed the girl there too, Elice. "

"Steve!" The hands had gone swiftly to the girl's ears, covered themcompletely. "I shan't listen. This is worse than folly. It's madness. "

"I can't help it, " monotonously. "It's myself. I can't avoid beingmyself. "

"Nor I myself, Steve, " very gently. "Can't you realize that?"

The man passed his hand across his eyes as though brushing away somethingtangible. 

"No, I can't realize anything, " he said dully, "except that I loveyou--and have lost. This and that the world is dead--and I am alone init. "

For the second time the girl arose, and even yet quite steadily. But atlast her lips were trembling. 

"I think you had better go now, " she requested. "I can't stand this muchlonger; and besides, to keep it up would do no good that I can see. To-morrow is Saturday, and if you still feel there is anything you mustsay to me I shall be at home all day. But to-night--please go now. "

As in a dream, Armstrong arose, obeying her command--as he always obeyedin small things. 

"Yes, I suppose you're right, " he echoed dully. "I realize I'm onlymaking matters worse by staying, only getting us farther apart. " Hebuttoned his coat to the chin and drew on his gloves lingeringly. "If Iwere to call to-morrow, though, isn't there a chance that you would bedifferent? Can't I have even--hope?"

The girl said nothing, did not appear to hear. Subconsciously she wascounting the seconds, almost with prayer; counting until she should bealone. 

But still Armstrong dallied, killing those same seconds wilfully. 

"Aren't you going to offer me even hope, Elice?" he repeated. "I'll bein--hell when I go, without even hope. "

It was the final straw, that prophetic suggestion, the snapping straw. With one gesture of hopeless, impotent misery, of infinite appeal aswell, the girl threw out her hand. 

"Go, " she pleaded brokenly, "go quickly. There's a limit to everythingand with me that limit is reached. " She motioned again, and Steve wentout into the night. 

CHAPTER IX

ADMONITION

There was a light in the den as Darley Roberts, having let himself inwith his latch-key, started up the stairs toward his own rooms, and, although he moved softly, Harry Randall himself faced the newcomer on thelanding, his hand extended. 

"I was waiting for you, " he announced without preface. "I felt sure you'dbe in to-night sometime. " He was smiling a welcome, one unmistakablygenuine. "Delayed, were you?"

"Yes. A wreck out about seventy miles. I just got in on the relief, "laconically. The accompanying grip, however, was not curt. "You'll readabout it in the morning. Looks comfortable in there, " with a nod towardthe inviting den. "Early enough yet for a chat, is it?"

"I was hoping so. That's why I sat up. "

"Thanks. I'll be with you in a minute. "

Shortly, in lounging-robe and slippers this time, he came tiptoeing downthe hall past the other sleeping-rooms; a big alert shape that seemedmountainous beside the lesser Randall idly awaiting his return. 

"Very well, " he introduced characteristically as he dropped into aconvenient seat, "let's hear all about it--everything. I'm listening. "

Randall caught the contagion of brevity, as he always did when in theother's presence. "What would you like to hear about first?" he returnedsmilingly. "Have you any choice?"

"Yourself, " with a steady look. "Everything's right, I see. "

"Yes, everything's right, " echoed Randall, "so much so that I'm simplyfoolishly happy. " He paused meaningly. "And now, since--"

Roberts gestured--merely gestured. 

"Aren't you going to permit me even to thank you?" countered Randall. 

"I came to hear the news, " evenly. Roberts smiled suddenly at the look onhis companion's face. "I understand about that other matter, " hedigressed, ambiguously but nevertheless adequately; "let it go at that. Mrs. Randall, I presume--"

"She hung your portrait, life size, in the parlor downstairs a few daysago, " with direct malice. 

Again Roberts gestured; then he looked up. They laughed together and thetabooed subject by mutual consent passed into oblivion. 

"Miss Gleason--Elice--" suggested Roberts. 

"Still at her place in the university. " Randall busied himself with astrand of lint on the collar of his smoking-jacket. "Her father's goneall to pieces, you know, and she seems a bit--tired. Otherwise she'sherself--as always. "

"No, I didn't know, " said Roberts. "And Armstrong?"

"He's been working steadily for months, and been straight absolutely. "Randall ventured a glance at last. "To-day was his big day; you do knowthat. He was in the clouds this evening. "

"I should like to have been with you. " The tone was non-committal. "Strange to say I like to see people in that frame of mind. It makes foroptimism. Will his new effort, you think, stand on its own legs?"

"Yes; always providing nothing interferes. I've seen the first half. It'smore than good. It's excellent. You're in it, distinct as life, by theway. "

Roberts lit a cigar and smoked for a minute in silence. 

"I'm sorry, sincerely, that I'm there, " he said then. He gazed at hiscompanion steadily, and with a significance Randall never forgot. "I usedto fancy I wasn't afraid of anything. I'm not afraid of mostthings, --dynamite or nitro-glycerine or murderous fanatics or physicalpain; but in the last year I've learned there's one thing on earth, oneperson, I'm afraid of--deathly afraid. You know who?"

"Yes. "

"I predicted once he would make good. I believed it then. Since I've beenalone a good deal and had much time to think, and question. That's why Iam afraid. " Roberts paused to smoke, seemingly impassive. "I'd give everycent I have in the world and start anew to-morrow without breakfast if Icould only know, only know to a certainty that he would keep his grip. But will he?. .. I'm afraid!"

Scarcely knowing what he did, Randall lit a cigar in turn and smoked likea furnace. His tongue attempted to form an assurance, but try as he mighthe could not give it voice. Once he had promised not to lie to that manopposite, ever; and in the depths of his own soul he knew that he, too, was afraid. At last, in self-confessed rout, he voiced the commonplace. 

"It's my turn to ask questions now, I think, " he said. "Are you back tostay?"

Roberts looked up, only half comprehending; he roused himself. 

"No. I intend to close out everything. I doubt if I ever stay anywherepermanently again. I'll keep the house here, though. "

"You've decided not to sell it--even to me?"

Roberts paused. 

"Yes, " he said at last; but he offered no explanation. 

Randall waited, hoping for a lead whereby light might come. But noneopened, and the subject dropped. 

"I judge the mine's making good, " he commented, with the trace ofawkwardness he always felt when approaching the other's personal affairs. "Will you return soon?"

"Probably not soon. " The voice was almost listless. "I put everything inshape for an indefinite absence before I came away. To answer yourquestion: It's a wonder, bigger than I ever hoped. It'll still be a greatmine a generation from now. "

Randall caught his breath. The big game was yet new to him, and thevolume of wealth suggested was cumulatively overpowering. 

"Bigger than you expected!" he echoed. "Then that means--millions!"

Roberts glanced at his companion curiously. Slowly he smiled. 

"Yes, " he said, "it means millions. I haven't even an idea how manyeventually. " The smile left his face, every trace of expression as well. "I could sell for ten to-day if I wished; but I have no intention ofselling. "

Randall sat looking at the other as if hypnotized. He forgot to askquestions, forgot almost to breathe. To read of gigantic fortunes, theproperty of absolute strangers living a thousand or thousands of milesaway, is one thing: to have one personally known, an actual acquaintancein possession--it held him speechless, staring. The other's familiar, tolerant laugh aroused him. 

"Don't, please, " said Roberts. "They've been doing that to me wherever Ishow myself and write my name; that is, when they haven't been provingrelationship. " He laughed again shortly. "It's wonderful how manyrelatives I've discovered of late and friends I've made. Don't do it, please. "

Randall could still color and his face went red. 

"I beg your pardon, " he apologized, "I--"

"Nor that either, " swiftly, almost curtly. "Just be yourself, natural. Ilike you that way. " He looked at the other openly, with frank intentnessthat heralded the unexpected. 

"It's possible, " he digressed evenly, "that I'll be here some time, butthe chances are I'll only stay a day or so. After to-night we'll probablynot see much of each other, maybe nothing at all, ever. We're ratherdifferent types and our roads lead differently. " He smiled to dissipatethe mystification he saw gathering on the other's face. "This is apreface. What I'm aiming at directly is to say a thing or two that havebeen on my mind for some time--in case I don't have the opportunityagain. " Once more the smile, --the same smile that had won the confidenceof the other against heavy odds in the beginning of their acquaintance. "Do you mind if I'm a bit--fatherly to you?"

"No. " Swift as thought, as panoramic memory, Harry Randall had rememberedeverything; and, without shame, his eyes were moist. "I'd like you to beso. I understand. "

Roberts looked away at the red and green wall opposite. 

"It's just this, then; and if you wish me to stop say the word; I getreports of various things in various ways. It's part of my philosophy toknow of events in advance if I can. I've heard that you are speculating abit. Is it true?"

Randall started involuntarily; but the other was not looking. 

"How in the world did you know?" he questioned. 

"Never mind how I know. I'd tell you if it would do any good; but itwouldn't. It's true, isn't it?"

"Yes, " Randall moistened his lips; "a little. "

"Things coming a trifle slow for you, are they? Hard to meet expenses--"

"No; it's not that; but--"

"I understand perfectly. " Roberts was still inspecting the pattern of thepaper with minute attention. "As perhaps your best friend, though, don'tdo it. If at any time you need money, really need it, remember I am yourfriend, and don't hesitate to tell me. But outside of that--" He haltedsignificantly, waiting; then, sufficient time having elapsed, he lookedat the other again directly. 

"Now for the fatherly admonition, " he digressed evenly, "or whatever youplease to call it. You're doing well here, and will do better as timegoes by. You're on your own feet, solid. Don't gamble with things as theyare, ever. It's contagious, I know, when a man gets a little surplus, andlooking over the rise of the horizon sees such an infinite field beyond;but steer clear. Some men can gamble and lose, and forget it and come upsmiling again. Others are fashioned by nature differently. Once down theystay down; and regret as long as they live. It's a fundamental differenceno power can change. I hope I haven't hurt you unforgivably, Randall?"

Harry Randall glanced up, and his eyes held steady. 

"No; and I'll not forget. I promise you that. " Involuntarily he startedto rise, his hand half extended, his eyes bright; but he sat down again. "If I could only thank you right, Roberts, " he voiced tensely, "couldonly show you in some way that I appreciate--" He halted, the sentence soconsciously inadequate, incomplete, --"If I only could, " he repeatedhelplessly. 

A moment they sat there so, looking at each other, merely looking. Thenat last, with an obvious weariness Randall had never seen him exhibitbefore, Roberts slowly arose. Still another moment he stood there, looking down. 

"'Roberts, '" he echoed in a low tone, "'Roberts, ' always 'Roberts'! Not'Darley, ' even then. " He turned abruptly toward his own rooms, his greatshoulders all but blocking the doorway as he passed out. "Good-night, " hesaid. 

CHAPTER X

DECISION

The light on the porch was dim, and as Elice Gleason, answering the ring, opened the outer door she stared as one who sees unbelievable things. Fora moment she did not utter a sound, merely stood there gazing at thevisitor with a look that was only partially credulous; in suddenweakness, oddly unlike her normal composure, she covered her face withher hands. 

"Elice!" Unbidden, the man came wholly within. "A thousand pardons forstartling you. I should have let you know--'phoned at least. I--pardonme, please. "

With an effort the girl removed her hands, but Darley Roberts saw she wasstill trembling. 

"No need to apologize. " She closed the door mechanically. "You didsurprise me, it's true; but that wasn't the trouble really. I've beenexpecting something to happen all day, something that hasn't happenedyet, and when you rang I fancied--" She laughed, as though theinadequate explanation were complete and withal a thing of trivialmoment. "You remember once I told you I believed, after all, you hadnerves. I'm making the tardy discovery that I've got them myself. "

In his turn Roberts smiled and ignored the obvious. He seldomanticipated, this man. 

"Yes, we all have them, I guess, " he dismissed, "along with an appendixand a few other superfluous items. " He was still standing just within thedoorway. "First of all, though, I don't intrude? Harry Randall told meabout your father. "

"He's been much better to-day, and he's asleep this evening already. " Inswift reaction the girl was herself again, more than her recent self, positively gay. "Intrude!" she laughed softly. "You're actually becominghumorous; and as you would say, your dearest enemies have never accusedyou of that before. Come. "

Between genteel poverty and absolute poverty there are distinguishingsigns and Darley Roberts observed all things; but not once from his pointof vantage in the den he recalled so well did he seem to takeobservations--any more than he seemed to see the alteration, likewiseunmistakable, in the girl herself. 

"It seems as though it were only yesterday instead of--I don't like tothink how many ages ago, I was here last, " he commented as he relaxed infamiliar comfort. "If you just had one of those linen things you used towork on, and--"

The ball of white, like a crumpled handkerchief, which had been lyingidle in the girl's lap was unrolled and, before the speaker's eyes, thereappeared against the colorless background a clover with four leaves. 

"Elice!" It was unfeigned surprise. "Is this another regiment or are youstill working on that last one yet?"

The girl sorted her silks in demure impassivity. 

"Another regiment entirely--or is it an army? I've forgotten how manycomprise a regiment. " She went to work with steady fingers. "These lunchcloths of mine are becoming as staple as soap or quinine. "

Roberts watched as the needle went through and through, but he did notsmile. He could not. 

"Another regiment! Then I haven't really been sleeping, " he said. "For amoment when that four-leafed clover showed--By the way, do you happen torecall what day of the month this is?"

"Yes. " The girl's eyes did not leave her work. "I remembered it the firstthing when I got up this morning. "

"You remembered? And still you were surprised when I came. Didn't youthink I'd remember too?"

"I didn't doubt it. "

"And come to commemorate the date, December the sixth?"

"Commemorate, yes. Come? I didn't know. I hoped--until it grew dark;then--one loses certainty alone after dark. "

"It wasn't that which you had expected all day to happen, though, " saidRoberts, evenly. 

The girl did not dissimulate. 

"No, " she said simply. 

One step nearer had they approached the mystery, one step only, but theman came no further--then. 

"And weren't you going to commemorate it yourself, since you remembered?"he digressed. 

"Yes, I have done so. I've been celebrating all day. I haven't washed adish; they're all stacked out in the kitchen. And this--" she stood updeliberately and turned about that the other might see--"is my partygown, worn in honor of the occasion. " She returned to her place andagain the needle passed methodically in and out of the linen. "Are yousatisfied?"

"Satisfied!" It was the rebellious cry of a dominant thing trapped andsuffering. "Satisfied!" By pure force of will he held back the flood. "Elice, won't you please put up that work--for to-night? It's--ghastly. "

As though paralyzed, the white hands paused, for half a minute lay idle. Without comment she obeyed. 

"You know what I mean, " said the man. "It makes me irresponsible. I wantto throttle the something somewhere to blame. "

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. If I had expected for aninstant--"

"Don't, please!" It was supplication from one accustomed to command. "Talk about human beings being pawns in the game or straws before thewhirlwind!" Again the curt repression by pure force of will, and theinevitable pause with the digression complete following. "I haven't heardyour report of yourself yet, Elice. It's due me, overdue. I promised younot to write, and kept my word, you know. "

The girl looked at him with eyes that tried to smile. 

"Ask me anything else and I'll answer, " she said. "This I can't answer, because there's nothing to be said. I've merely been waiting. "

"As you were to-night, when I startled you?"

The girl's lips tightened, but they relaxed. She was in command now. 

"Yes, " she said. 

It was the second step; and for the second time the man approached nonearer--then. 

"Won't you let me ask you questions instead, " countered the girl, "as afavor?"

"Certainly, if you prefer. "

"'If I prefer. '" She mouthed the words deliberately. "Very well, then. What have you been doing since I saw you last?"

Roberts gave her an odd look. 

"Getting older mostly, " he said. 

"I might have chronicled that fact myself, " echoed the girl. 

"Very fast, " added the man, evenly. "Did you notice my hair?"

"It is grayer--a bit, " reluctantly. 

"Grayer!" Roberts laughed. "I made a microscopical examination recentlyfor one hair of the original color to preserve as a relic. It was toolate. Do you care to volunteer in the search?"

The girl ignored the invitation. 

"What else did you do?" she asked. 

"Worked some. " Roberts held up his great hands, calloused heavily overthe palms. "I've learned several things by actual experience: drilling, dynamiting, sharpening steel, mucking ore, assaying--everything. "

"And what else?" relentlessly. 

"Prospected a little. Ran out of provisions and went two days without abite to eat. Returned to find a strike on at the mine--and the strikersin possession. " He halted reminiscently. "I knocked a man down that day:the leader. He dared me and there were a dozen others backing him up. Itwas him or me and it couldn't be avoided. In the affair I hurt my hand;while it was healing I went to 'Frisco and took in the theatres. " He heldup the member indicated, reversed this time for inspection. A whitejagged scar ran diagonally over the knuckles. "It's entirely well now. "

The girl caught her breath. No query this time. 

The hand returned idly to the man's lap. He looked away. 

"It's a rough life out there, " he resumed evenly, "wild and primitive;but it's fascinating in a way. Besides, it's one of the things I wantedto know. I think I do know it. I don't believe any one could fool me on amine now. "

Elice Gleason looked at him steadily, until perforce he returned hergaze. 

"Granted, " she admitted steadily; "but is it worth while?"

"Worth while? How do I know--or any one. It's necessary for some one toknow. It's part of the big game. Farther than that--My hair is all graynow--and I don't know. "

His companion looked away, with a little gesture of impatience. 

"Last of all, the mine itself?" she suggested. 

Roberts hesitated, his face inscrutable as a book closed. 

"If I knew what you wanted to know, " he said at last, "I'd tell you; butI don't. It's fabulous, if that answers your question. It's likeAladdin's lamp: there's nothing material on the face of the earth itwon't give for the asking. It's producing enough now daily to keep a saneman a year. It's power infinite for good or evil, and creating more powerday by day. " He halted, then unconsciously repeated himself. "Yes, powerinfinite, neither more nor less. "

There was a long silence before his companion spoke. 

"And power, you said once, was the thing you wanted most. You have it atlast. "

"Yes, I have it at last, that's true. I can command the services of athousand men, to work for me or amuse me; or for another if I direct. Ican pass current anywhere at any time, and make any one I care to namepass current with me. The master key is in my possession tight. I canchoose my tools for whatever I wish done from a multitude. The materialis limitless, for I can pay. Besides, as I said before, this power isincreasing inevitably, whether I'm asleep or awake, growing by its ownmomentum. I have it at last, yes; but it neither is nor ever was what Iwanted most, Elice. I said I wanted it, you're right; but I never said Iwanted it most. You know what I want most in the world, Elice. "

Listening, Elice Gleason folded her hands tight, until the blood left thefingers. 

"Yes, I know, " she said steadily. "We understand each other; it's uselessto pretend otherwise. I've tried, and you've seen through the disguiseand smiled. It's simply useless. " The clasped hands opened in a gestureof dismissal. "But don't let's speak of it now. I want to hear your plansfor the future. What are you going to do now that you have--power?"

"Do?" Roberts looked at her steadily. "That depends upon one conditionabsolutely. It's superfluous for me to name that one. "

The girl flashed him a look from eyes unnaturally bright. 

"Please, " she pleaded, "leave it alone for a time. You have two coursesoutlined, an option. It would be unlike you otherwise. What are thosetwo?"

"I didn't mean to be insistent, Elice, " said Roberts, gently. "Take myword for it, I shan't be again, whatever you decide. Yes; I see two waysahead. In one, work will be secondary, another's happiness first, alwaysfirst. In the other, I shall work--to forget. The incentive of the gameitself is gone. I've won the game. But there is no other way to forgetand retain self-respect; so I shall work--to the end. "

"And you must decide soon?"

"Yes, at once. I can't remain longer in uncertainty. Nothing is so bad asthat. It's like a bungling execution: infinitely better for all concernedto be complete. To-morrow I take up the trail one way or the other. "

Opposite, the girl caught her breath for an instant; but though the othersaw he said nothing. He had promised he would not. 

"You'll leave then to-morrow, if--" That was all. 

"Yes. "

"And never come back, never?"

"Not unless I am sent for. Life is short and holds enough pain at best. Ihave several projects in mind, and I shall be free to follow them wherethey lead. I'll go to Mexico first. They've barely scratched theresources down there. Later I go to South America. Afterward--I haven'tplanned. I'll simply follow the lead. There's work enough to do. "

The girl looked at him--through eyes that held their old marvel, almosttheir old fear. 

"You can cut yourself off so, from all the old life, really?" shevoiced. 

"Yes, Elice. "

It was finality absolute, the last word, the ultimatum. 

"And still you love me?" breathed the girl low. 

"More than I love life. You don't doubt it. "

From her seat the girl arose abruptly and passed the length of the roomwith long, unconscious strides, like a man. She made no effort atdissimulation or concealment now. The time for that was past. She merelyfought--openly, but in silence. Once she sat down for a moment; but for amoment only. Again she was on her feet. A bit later she asked the time, and very quietly Roberts told her. She went to the window in the front ofthe house commanding the street and scrutinized its length. She returnedand resumed her seat. 

"Can I help you in any way, Elice?" asked Roberts, gently. 

The girl shook her head. 

"No, " she said steadily. "No one can help me. I can't even help myself. That's the curse of it. There's nothing to do but wait. " The folded handschanged position one above the other, and after a moment returned asbefore. "Do you understand?" she queried without preface. 

An instant Roberts hesitated, but an instant only. 

"Yes, I think so. You intimated you were expecting some one to come. "

"Something to happen, " substituted the girl. 

"It's all the same, " evenly. 

Silence followed for a space while they sat there so; breaking it, thegirl looked at the other directly. 

"I have refused him definitely, " she said, without consciousness of theseeming ambiguity of the remark. "I did so last night. "

"Yes, " very low; and that was all. 

The girl drew a long breath, like one preparing for the unknown. 

"I could see no other way of finding out for sure. Like yourself, nothingseemed to me so bad as uncertainty. "

"Yes, " once more; just "yes. "

"He sat just where you are sitting now; and when I told him he laughed. "A second the brown eyes dropped, then in infinite pathos they returned tothe listener's face. "You know how he laughs when he's irresponsible. Itwas horrible. "

"I know, " echoed Roberts. "I've heard it. "

"And then he went away. I sent him away. I couldn't stand any more then. It seemed to me I'd go mad if I tried. "

Although the room was warm, the girl was shivering; rising, Roberts litthe gas in the grate. But he said nothing, absolutely nothing. 

Through wide-open eyes the girl watched him as he returned to his seat. Involuntarily she threw out both arms in a gesture of impotencyabsolute. 

"That's all, " she completed, "except that I told him to return--if hefelt he must. I've been expecting him every minute all day; anticipatinghorrors. But I haven't heard a word. "

It was the mystery at last, impersonate. Like a live presence it stoodthere between these two human beings in the room, holding them apart, andeach in his separate place. 

Not for a moment but for minutes this time they sat in silence. Neitherthought of speaking commonplaces now, nor again of things intimate. Theperiod for these was past; the present too compellingly vital. What theman was thinking he did not say nor reveal by so much as an expression. He had given his word not to do so; and with Darley Roberts a promise wassacred. A question he did ask, though, at last. 

"Wouldn't you like me to go and find out for certain, Elice?" hesuggested. "I'll do so if you wish. "

"No. " It was almost a plea. "We'll find out soon, very soon, I'mpositive. I'll know whatever he does. He's certain to tell me; and Iwish you here if he comes. Besides, neither of us could do anythingwhatever to alter the inevitable, even if we tried. We must simply wait;it can't be much longer now. "

Once more there was a long silence, ghastly in its dragging moments, andagain broken by the man. 

"I shan't trouble you to go through the argument again, Elice, " he said, "or attempt to alter your decision, whatever it may be. I can't presumeto judge another's soul. But, merely to know for certain: you've decidedpositively to marry him, if--" The sentence ended in silence and agesture. 

His companion did not answer, appeared almost not to hear. 

"Tell me, please, " repeated the man gently. "You may as well. It won'thurt either of us any more for you to say it--if you've so decided. "

"Yes, " answered the girl this time. "I've tried and tried to find anescape; but there is none. " She passed her hand over her throat as thoughthe words choked her, but her voice was now steady. "His blood would beupon my head, always, if I could prevent and still let him go--down. Godhelp you and me both, but I can't do otherwise!"

A moment longer Roberts sat still--fixedly still; he stood up, his greathands clenched until they were as white as the scar itself. 

"I think I'd better go now, " he said, "before Armstrong comes. " The greatshoulders of him were swelling and receding visibly with each breath. "Idon't know, of course; but I fear to go passive and unresisting to thestake myself, and to remain passive and unresisting when I saw the samefire that was to be my fate touching you, scorching you slowly todeath--and for a fault that was neither of your making nor mine, forwhich we are in no respect responsible--I'm afraid that is beyond me, Elice. I'd better go at once, before he comes. "

"No. " The girl, too, was on her feet facing him. "Please don't. You don'treally mean what you just said. "

"Don't I? You believe in miracles. I'm human and I'd throttle him if hecame while I was here--and came as he came once before!"

"Stop! in pity. If it does happen he'll not be to blame; it will bebecause he can't help it. You're big and strong and he'll need you aswell as me. Wait. "

The man drew back a step, but his great jaw was set immovably. 

"You can't realize what you're asking, " he said. "Remember my convictionis not your conviction. I still believe that two predominate over one andthat nature's law comes first. I'll go because it is your decision andfinal; but I can't change elemental things at command. Don't ask it orexpect it, because it is impossible. "

"It's not impossible, though, " desperately. "Nothing is impossible withyou. "

Roberts' great head shook a negative. 

"This is. I can't discuss it longer. Good-bye, Elice. "

The girl's brown eyes followed him as, decisively now, he prepared toleave, and in hopeless, abject misery. She spoke one word. 

"Darley, " she said. 

The listener halted, motionless as a figure in clay. 

"Darley, " repeated the girl; and again that was all. 

"'Darley!'" It was the man's voice this time, but it sounded as thoughcoming from a distance. "'Darley!' At last!--and now!"

"Darley, " yet once again, "as I love you and you love me don't--desert menow!"

On the room fell a silence like death, --to those two actors worse thandeath; for it held thought infinite and complete realization at last ofwhat might have been and was not; of what as well, unless a miracleintervened, could never be. In it they stood, each where he was, twofigures in clay instead of one. Interrupting, awakening, torturing, sounded the thing they had so long expected; the impact of a step uponthe floor of the porch without; a moment later another, uncertain, andanother; a pause, and then, startlingly loud, the trill of an electricbell. 

For an instant neither stirred. It was the expected; and still there is alimit to human endurance. The girl was trembling, in a nervous tensiontoo great to bear longer. An effort indeed she made at control; but itwas a pitiful effort and futile. In surrender absolute, abandon absolute, she dropped back into her seat, her arms crossed pathetically on thesurface of the library table, her face buried from sight therein. 

"Answer it, please, " she pleaded. "I can't. I'm ashamed, unutterably; butI can't!"

Again the alarm of the bell sounded; curtly short this time andinsistent. 

Without a word or even a pause Darley Roberts obeyed. As he passed out heclosed the door carefully behind him. 

Five minutes that seemed to the girl a lifetime dragged by. Listening, she heard the opening of the front door, the murmur of low, speakingvoices, --a murmur ceasing as abruptly as it began; then, wonder ofwonders, the door closed again with a snap and a retreating step soundedonce, twice, as when it had come, on the floor of the porch. Following, she marked the even footfall of Roberts returning. The electric switchthat he had turned on snapped back as he had found it, the interveningdoor opened, and he entered. But, strange to say, he did not pause or saya word. As one awakening from a dream and not yet wholly conscious, hereturned silently to his former place. On his face was a look she hadnever seen before, which she could not fathom. 

"Darley. " Unbelieving the girl leaned toward him appealingly. "Tell me. Wasn't it--he?"

The man looked at her then, and there was that in his gray eyes thattinged her face crimson. 

"No. It was Harry Randall, " he said. "It's all right, Elice. The miraclecame. "

"The miracle!" The voice was uncertain again, but from a far differentcause this time. "Don't keep me waiting. Tell me. Is he--well?"

This time Roberts actually smiled, --smiled as he had not done before inmonths. 

"Yes; and writing like mad! That's the miracle. He's been at it steadynow for twenty hours, and won't even pause to eat. He sent for Harry todeliver the message. It's inspiration he's working under and he couldn'tstop to come himself, wouldn't. He said to tell you, and me, that it wasall right. He'd found himself at last. Those were his words, --he'd foundhimself at last. " As suddenly as it had come the smile passed, andRoberts stood up, his big hands locked behind his back. 

"We've thought we understood him all these years, " he said steadily, "butat last I realize that we haven't at all. It would be humorous if ithadn't been so near to tragedy, so very near. Anyway, it's clear now. Harry Randall sees it too. That's why he wouldn't stay. Steve Armstrongnever cared for you really at all, Elice. He thought he did--but hedidn't. It was himself he cared for; and a fancy. Neither you nor I norany one can change him or help him more than temporarily. We're free. He'll stand or go under as it was written in the beginning. " The voicelowered until it throbbed with the conviction that was in the speaker'ssoul. "No man alive who really cared could find inspiration where hefound it. The world is before us and we're free, Elice, free!"

Unconsciously, in answer to an instinct she obeyed without reason, thegirl too arose, an exaltation in her face no artist could reproduce norwords describe. 

"Yes, " she said. "I see it all too at last. We've all been blind. " Shecaught her breath at the thought that would intrude, force it back as shewould. "And still we came so near, so very, very near--"

"Yes; but it's past. " The man opposite was advancing. Not the impassive, cold Darley Roberts the world knew, but the other Darley Roberts revealedto one alone; the isolate human alone and lonely. "But it's past, past, do you hear? And to-day is December the sixth, our anniversary--ours. " Hehalted, waiting. He smiled, with a tenderness infinite. "Is it 'Darley'still, Elice? Won't you come and say it again?"

THE END

 Transcriber's Notes:

 Illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are not in the middle of a paragraph. 

 Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved as printed, along with the author's punctuation style, except as noted below [the correction is enclosed in brackets]. Minor punctuation errors have been corrected without note. 

 Pg. 169: the old man re-repeated [repeated]

 The following words have been found in both hyphenated and unhyphenated form in the original text: top-coat (topcoat), up-stairs (upstairs), near-by (nearby), house-warming (housewarming). Their original hyphenation has been preserved.