A Court of Inquiry

m

in my

cbe

home in summer, they insisted that it was only just for me to allow them, that second winter after their marriage, to return my hospitality. This argument alone would hardly have sufficed, for winter in the country-conn

-I had arrived late the night bef

ife had just presented him, "as Hepatica and I discovered only the other day, that three of tho

ing!" I in

ed by her," he explained. "Three of tho

Camellia and Althea are. Who else? Aza

patica looked at him, and he looked at her, and then they both looked at me. "Dahlia was ma

ext neighbour. She had been away more or less all winter, but t

hlia's methods. Her net was always spread, and though a certain wise man declares it in vain to spread it in the sight of any bird, humans are not always so wa

I ejaculated. "No

ic nodded

nded. "He's hers now. And day

his wife, patted her shoulder, nodded at me, and was gone. A minute later we heard

be twenty pounds heavier than he was that summer.

dmitted Hepatica, regarding the Ske

d, remembering the delicately hea

said Hepatica presently. "And it's just as Don says: he was literally caug

said I ungenerously. "I sha

r away. And his old quarters are just two blocks below us. She knew

lanned to ask me. He was looking rather less well-fed than the Skeptic, but quite as philosophical, and altogether as friendly as ever. He looked hard at me, and wrung my han

y and dumbfoundedly at the Skeptic, and the Skeptic grinned

. "You ought to be jubilant to think it's not yourself," he urged his friend. "You know, there was one tim

ing over old times at the Farm. He had spent the past summer tra

ich now made Hepatica my chaperon, instead of, as in former days, my being alert to protect her from visiting philosophers and skeptics. The Philosopher and I t

all my attention to two people who had come down the aisle and were finding the

d. So our four pairs of eyes

ion's attention to us. The Professor-eighteen years Dahlia's senior, but one of the best men who ever walked the earth, as we had long since discovered-turned and scanned us over his spectacles. Then he also responded to our smiling recognitions

ich sounded like a sigh of dissatisfaction. Noting how thin the Professor's ash-coloured hair seemed to be, over the crown of his head, in comparison with Dahlia's luxuriant and elab

leaned for

rtation with her to-night, if I happened t

ed Hepatica;

burn tresses are thick upon my head, my evening clothes were m

sor and Dahlia stood up to let them through, we saw that though the newcomers passed the Professor without recognition, the y

ps," he whispered, "that my observations are to be made upon a proxy. Wh

of a famous orchestra came commandingly to the front of the stage, welcomed b

sound which beat against his welcoming ears. Next him, Dahlia, the bride of three days, was vindicating the Skeptic's opinion of her undiminished accomplishments. The young man upon her right proved an able second. The gi

in?" breathed the Philosopher in

ake a devoted wife, nevertheless. That sort of thing doesn't mean

e her. And if she could carry on a conversation with the other one in an ordinarily well-bred, friendly way-and confine it to the intervals between numbers-one might be ab

k at them,

m. Everybody else is looking

s-and I'm sure she must have been-she probably ascribed it to the charm of her appearance. She is even prettie

hose conditions. Wait till we've had them alone with us. Dahlia told me on the way out that they

ted the Philosopher-qu

re than before, the pitiable victim of a woman in every way unsuited to him. Yet he looked at Dahl

, at a moment when nobody else happened to be speaking. She accompanied this o

three summers," replied the Philosop

" said Dahlia. "Do you remember how we could never

, with a twinkle at the Philosopher, who looked uncomfortable. The Professor's gentle gaze was fixed upon ea

e fishing on that rive

hut my eyes now and see the water rippling in the

d in the moonlight. The big porch is my favourite haunt at

shriek. "There aren't any midge

persisted the Skeptic, "just when people want to settle down and have themselves to them

nour, the Skeptic desisted. It did not seem necessary for him to demonstrate to us that, quite as of old, he could attract Dahlia to his side and keep her there. Before the evening was over he found himself occupied-

pon the last of the bride's backward looks at

mix a few drops of soothing

ever seen there. Although a decade the Philosopher's elder, the Professor had long shared bachelor quarters with him in

lf?" the Philosopher muttered remorsefu

smally as consolation. "'Whom the gods would destroy they

ts as marriage licences and irresponsible clergymen

he spirit-lamp under her tea-kettle. "I'm going to brew y

Skeptic, rallying, "and tell

know well enough what I think

to Co