The Coming of Bill

Mate

y. He had perfect health, an income more than sufficient for his needs, a profession which interested without

me men. Kirk did not object to it in the least. He had enough money to meet their needs, and, being a sociab

g his whisky, smoking his cigarettes, borrowing his money, and, on occasion, his spare bedrooms and his pyjamas, he never showed it. He was fully as pleasant to Percy Shanklyn, the elegant, perpetually res

entirely in the present. The passage of time left him untouched. Day followed day, week

ld produce one of his excellent breakfasts. The next mile-stone would be the arrival of Steve Dingle. Five brisk rounds

rge with one of his celebrated dinners. And then began the incursion of his friends. One by one they would drop in, m

n in love, and he had come to imagine that he was incapable of anything except a mild liking for women. He considered himself immune, and was secretly glad of it. He enjoyed his go-as

e idea of marriage crossed his mind he thrust it from him with a kind of shuddering horror. He could not pic

nce. To Kirk, the great point about Hank was that he had been everywhere, seen everything, and was, when properly stimulated with tobacco and drink, a fou

ehold. The abstract wife could not be reconciled to him, and Kirk

ut the question of marriage in all its aspects, and decided against it

a vague discontent. He was uneasy, almost afraid. The slight dislocation in the smooth-working machinery of his existence, caused by the compulsory retirement

tted ease is good for no one. It sucks the soul out of a man. Kirk, as he sat smoking in the

e doctor gave him a couple of days before complete recovery-that it had not seemed worth while to Kirk to engage a substitute. It was simpler to go out for his meals and make his own bed.

on his energies would appear to have found him unprepared. It spoiled his whole day, knowing, when he got out of bed in the morning, that h

baths, his exercises, his bouts with Steve Dingle. To-day he felt less confidence. For all his baths and boxing, the fact remained that he had b

r own. To Kirk, brooding in the dusk, the figure of the abstract wife seemed to grow le

become more and more of a bore as the years went on, unless he ha

entirely due to the knowledge that, instead of sitting comfortably at home, he would be compelled in a few short

d was at its blackest, and the figure of the abstract wife had ceased to be a menace and become a shin

had no use for friends. When he found himself confronting Mrs. Porter he became momentarily incapable of speech

ve come to inquire after the man Pennicut. Ruth, this i

the first time that his

er a girl was standing

s, and Ruth cam

e went all to pieces, as if he had received a violent blow. Curious physical changes were taking place in him. His legs, which

His lungs, too, were in poor condition; he found it practically impossible to breathe.

ped a

ely the same sensation of smallness which had come to Mrs. Porter on her first meeting w

n a city of beautiful women, and it was rarely that she permitted her knowledge of that fact to escape her. Her beauty, to her, was a n

d to exist. She was stagger

l of her nature. She recovered herself so swiftly that

ad suddenly become charged with ozone and electricity, and for some reason he felt capable of great feats of muscle and e

tter to-day,"

d," said Mrs. Po

sn't th

He is hopelessl

Kirk thrille

rge!" she

me gross and flabby, with the result that the collision did damage which it would not have done to a man in hard condition. You, Mr. Winfield

your

take col

d

Swedish e

t loathing. I started them as a boy, and they have become a habit

the kind. They

ndigni

sed a finger and ran a meditative glance over his form. Kirk eyed her apprehensively. The finger darted

, au

y finger is pointing. He i

and this exploration of his more intimate anatomy by the f

orter. "If I were a man of your p

o up and see George?" a

perative that this wo

read, which will do him good. It is called 'Elem

them, all right, sinc

bout in front

orter. "Careful attention to them may yet save him. His case is not hopeless. Ruth, let Mr. Wi

it. She was in a dreamy, contented mood. She found herself curiously soothed by the atmosphere of the

faintly heard thunder. Somebody passed the window, whistling. A barrier seem

derfully happy in a place

of her meditations, of eyes watching her

conscious of a little thrill of annoyance at the thought of all the tiresome for

d found his woman, the woman her man. Nature had settled the whole affair in an instant. And now civilization, pro

d would have ignored it. But she knew men, and especially, at that moment as their eyes met, she knew Kirk; and she understood that to him the road was a thing that c

rough the solemn comedy of proving to her, by the exhibition of his virtues and the careful suppression of his defe

on a new suit of clothes

silly and tiresom

our pictures, Mr. W

to see them. I'm afrai

Modesty,"

rney ha