The Second Generation

and a son, if not to take care of him? What kind of heartlessness was this, to talk of permitting a stranger to do the most sacred

has trained nurses in

ink you ought to obj

as indifferent as did the argu

ut us of his own blood. I won't hear to it, and the children won't hear to it. They're gl

or not. But Arthur privately suggested to Adelaide that she ought to try t

ome one about interfering w

ad-so stingy and-and-old-

point of view," sai

instantly ashamed of this injustice, he went on in a different tone,

mother,"

the finest, most matter-of-fact way in the world, and without a gleam of self-conscious heroics, whether of boasting or of martyr-meekness or of any other device for signaling attention to oneself. Indeed, it would not have occurred to her that

thinking of those things a good deal lately, and I've come to the conclusion that there really is a rotten streak in what we've been getting there in

Arthur, "to find myself caring s

people whose opinion we are afraid of a

er are narrow-minded,"

bout people who don

objection to their havi

as they don't try to en

't we been let do a

he did not wish to reenter. He had not a doubt of the justice of his own views; but, somehow, to state them made him seem sordid and mercenary, even to himself. Being really c

mother is right. She gives your father what money can't buy and skill can't replace, what has often raised the as-good-as

pless form to the invalid's chair which Ellen wheeled close to the bedside. She herself wheeled him into the adjoining room, to the window, with strands of ivy waving in and out in the gentle breeze, with the sun bright and the birds singing, and all the world warm and vivid and gay. Hiram's cheeks were wet with tears;

, father?"

from him in thick,

-yes

seems to want to say something. But when he speaks, it's only as just now

h and the vocal organs. He could think clearly, could put his thoughts into the necessary words; but when his will

ought himself strong enough or could no longer refrain, he would try to burst the bonds which seemed to be holding him. With his children, or his wife and children, watching him with agonized faces, he would make a struggle so violent, so resolute, that even that dead body was galvanized into a ghastly distortion of tortured life. Always in vain; always the same collapse of despair and exhaustion; the chasm between thought and speech could not be bridged. They brought everything they could think of his pos

*

boot-and puzzled that she was puzzled. She read them again-it did not take long, for they were brief; even the first letter after he heard of her father's illness filled only the four sides of one sheet, and was written large and loose. "He has sent short letters," said she, "because he did not want to trouble me with long ones at this time." But, though this excuse was as plausible as most of those we invent to assist us to believe what we want to believe, it did not quite banish a certain hollow, hungry feeling, a sense of distaste for such food as the letters did provide. She was not experienced enough to know that the

y its subconscious half, that is taken wholly by surprise by any blow. There are always forewarnings; and while the surface mind habitually refuses to no

es the crowds at football games, polo and tennis matches, summer resort dances, and all those events which gather together the youth of our prosperous classes. Of the medium height, with a strong look about the shoulders, with sufficiently, though not aggressively, positive features and a clear skin, with gray-green eyes, good teeth, and a pleasing expression, he had an excellent natural basis on which to build himself into a particularly engaging and plausible type of fashionable gentleman. He was in traveling tweeds of

med; then, with a glance round

han mother, and he delighted her by telling her so-omitting the qualifying adjective before the

with you for not answerin

an instant he looked embarrassed

ll," was her reply i

any longer," said he.

dri

is face which returned and remained when she said: "I

as his smiling r

ecause you were bored

delaide. I must telep

e. "I shouldn't be too eager," counseled she. "A man ought never to show eagerness with a woman.

oss. "Especially not those t

ied she. "She wants the best, and when you'

owing that he rather thought so himself. But he said: "Nonsense. If I listene

ubtly. "She's very good-looking and knows it and I'm afraid she's getti

d his mother saw that he was unmove

nature to value wha

spoke with emphasis, neither his tone nor his l

ffair. But nothin

my word and

honorable. Still, I should not wish you to make her and yourself unhappy. And I know both of you would be unhappy if, by marrying, you were to spoil each other's careers. And your father would not be able to allow or to leave you enough to maintain an establishment such as I've set my heart on seeing you have. Mr. Ranger has been acting very strange of

"high life" novels descriptions of the bearing of men of the "haut monde." "That's of no co

east, be careful how you commit yourself until you are sure. In our station people have to think of a great many things before they think of

. Whitney watched him depart with a heavy heart and so piteous a face that Ross was moved almost to the point of confiding in her what he was pretending not

tting into a suitable costume. Suddenly she laid aside the hat she had selected from among several

re what had occurred between them. So Del had borne practically the whole burden of filling the dreary, dragging hours for him-who could not speak, could not even show whether he understood or not. He had never been easy to talk to; now, when she could not tell but that what she said jarred upon

and would weep-and let him see her weep, having an instinct that he understood what a relief tears were to her, and that she let him see them to make him feel her loving sympathy. Again, she would be so wrought upon by the steady agony of those fixed eyes that she would leave him

proof before her eyes that the sentences executed against men were not divine, but the devilish emanations of brute chance. "There may be a devil," she said to herself, frightened at her own blasphemy, "but there certainly is no God." Again, the Bible's promises, so confident, so lofty, so marvelous

tter of an eyelid. And as, so it seemed to her, the sympathetic relations and understanding between them grew, she became franker, talked of her aspirations-new-born aspirations in harmony with his life and belief. And, explaining

oss; and, as she went, she was surprised at her own calmness before the prospe

been thinking, with his head for so many weeks full of worldly ideas. He was thrilled anew, and his resolve hesitated before the fine pallor of her face, the slim lines of her figure, and the glimpses of her smooth white skin through the openwork in the yoke and sleeves of her blouse. But, instead of responding she drew back, just a little. He instantly suspe

ard me." He did not say this until she had been oppressed almost into

ept the family and the doctor, for weeks." And she tried to fix her mind on how handsome and attractiv

hat's the matter." His face-he was not looking at her-took on an expression of sad reproach. "Del, I don't believe you-care. You've found it out, and don't want to hurt my feelings by telling me." And he believed what he was saying. It might have been-well,

d you?" she replied coldly.

u," was his answer in a d

seeing too much of Theresa Howland," said she, merely for something to say; for Theresa

ons from other men," said he stiffly. "On the contrary, I have encourage

and proceeded to value still less highly

you, Ross, this morning?" s

icily. "I see you again after six mont

imed, with a dangerous smile. "You are out of

orted. "I never quarrel. Evidently

fuse the challenge, convert in

lf to look amusedly at him. "I don't

w of our engagement,"

rted she, "if I thought the way you're act

riticising him! All Ross's male instinct for unquestioning approval from the female was astir. "You wish to break our eng

in a series of jerks and pauses, took off the ring; with an expression and a gesture that gave no further hint of how she had valued it, both for its own beauty and for what it represented, she handed it t

again, feeling her beauty and her charm in all his senses, reminded of her superiority in brains and in taste to the women from whom he might choose, he was making a losing fight for the worldly wise course. "Anyhow, I mu

-to the lower end where the stableboy was guarding his

o confident had beauty and position as a prospective heiress made her as to her powers over any man she chose to try to fascinate, so secure was she in the belief that Ross loved her and would not give her up in any circumstances. She went over their interview, recalled his every sentence and look-this with surprising

*

ay loose upon the horse's back, and he gave himself to dejection. He had thought-at Windrift-that, once he was free from the engagement which was no longer to his interest, he would feel buoyant, elated. Instead, he was mentally even more downcast a figure than his relaxed attitude and gloomy face made him physically. His mother's and his "set's" training had trimmed generous instincts close to the roots, and, also, such ideals as were not purely for material matters, especially for ostentation. But, being still a young man, those roots not only were alive, but also had an under-the-soil vigor; they even occasionally sent to the surface sprouts-that withered in the uncongenial air of his surroundings and came to nothing. Just now these sprouts were springing in the form of self-reproaches. Remembering with what thoughts he had gone to Adelaide, he fel

h for his return, came

s morning?

me," he answ

d-D

ans

ously but had far too keen insight to speak and give him the excuse to explode. Not until she turned to leav

unimportant details. A man ought to see to it that by marrying he strengthens his influence and position in the world and provides for the standing of his children. And I think Theresa has far more steadiness; and, besides, she has been about the world-she was presented at court last spring a year ago, was

had made in the game of life. And it had precisely the effect she intended. Had she not herse

e said, still sullen, but with the note o

wish me to

said. The defiance in hi

to be announced as

dered restlessly about the room, ordered the electric, went to the Country Club. After an hour of bit

r answered. In fact, the note was jus

ary question, for he knew his mother was the sort of person that loses

y. "I thought I might as well send it, a

, after a few days he would find that his feeling for Adelaide was in reality no stronger than he had thought it at Windrift,

, but hung round, sour and morose, hop

*

"I've promised not to tell," her letter began, "but I never count

f a boy-and-girl flirtation between you and him. I don't see how you could get over it. Now-you've guessed. Yes-we're engaged, and will probably be married up here in the fall-Windrift is simply divine then, you know.

ilious, even when it is just; so, without criticism, the fact is recorded that Adelaide paced the floor and literally raved in her fury at this double-distilled, double treachery. The sense that she had lost the man she believed she loved was drowned in the oceanic flood of infuriated vanity. She raged now against Ross and now against Theresa "She's marrying him just because she's full of envy, and can't bear to see anybody else have an

been jilted, and that all the world, all her world, would soon know it. Jilted! She-Adelaide Ranger-the all-conqueror-flung aside, flouted, jilted. She went back to that last word; it seemed to conce

mocking, sneering friends? For, hide it she mu

up her brother at the Country Club. When she heard his voic

inner to-night? And, of course, do

of enormous relief, which she was too ab

's very important; and don't say a word

him." A pause, then. "F

ed, in sudden con