XXX + 

When John awoke it was late and he hastened to dress. On reaching the lower hall he found the front door open. Mrs. Merwent stood on the porch staring up and down the street. + 

“Where in the world is Lucy?” she began. “I heard her go to Mr. Sprague’s room last night, but the door was open this morning when I went past to go down to the kitchen.” + 

John had a frightened expression. + 

“She must have gone out for an early walk,” suggested Nannie, after a minute’s time. “She used to do such things often when she was a girl, whenever she got angry.” + 

“It looks like it was going to rain, too,” commented John worriedly. + 

He reentered the hall and took his hat from the stand. + 

“Did you have a quarrel last night?” Nannie catechised in a matter of fact way. + 

“No,” he denied shortly. + 

“Well, come on in, John. Don’t go out now. Wait a minute.” He had made a motion toward the door. “Eat something first. She’ll probably be back before we finish.” + 

He hesitated, turning his hat in his hands. + 

“Come on,” she coaxed. “There’s nothing to worry about.” Then, as he vacillated, she caught hold of his arm. “I’ll give you some coffee right away. The waffles won’t be fit to eat if you let them get cold, and Katy has already put them on the table. You can go and look for Lucy afterwards. She’s not gone far.” + 

As they turned to go in Dimmie appeared on the stairs in his night clothes. + 

“I want my breakfast,” he clamored. “Where’s Mamma? She ain’t in her room.” + 

“Mamma will be back in a little while, Jimmie,” said Mrs. Merwent soothingly. “Come on and I’ll give you your breakfast.” + 

Lucy was in the train bound for the city. + 

She sat staring straight before her at the back of the next car seat. There were very few people going to town so early, and no one was seated beside her. Her lips moved as the train sped on. + 

“Jim is the only one,” she repeated over and over. + 

She was, if possible, paler than ever, and her eyes shone with a peculiar light. + 

At the station she boarded an electric car that passed the apartment house where Jim lived. She and John had been there several times together. In front of her sat a little boy in a wide sailor hat, and on the same seat was a middle-aged woman. The boy evinced all a child’s interest in his surroundings, and at length, turning around, wriggled to his knees and smiled up into Lucy’s face. His blue eyes, bobbed hair, and fresh color really suggested Dimmie, and to Lucy, in her overwrought state, the resemblance was startling. + 

“I can’t! Oh, I can’t do it!” she murmured passionately, to the child’s intense surprise. + 

His eyes opened wide and he stopped smiling, half frightened as she bent over and kissed his cheek. The middle-aged woman jerked him back into the seat and scrutinized Lucy suspiciously. Lucy rang the bell and descended from the car at the next corner. + 

“I’ll go back! I’ll go back!” she whimpered, as a punished child submits to an angry parent. + 

It had begun to drizzle. She was unmindful of the rain falling on her hat and of her bedraggled skirts. Tears rolled down her cheeks and fell with the rain drops to the pavement. She walked unsteadily and her breast heaved. Reaching the station she took the next train to Rosedene. + 

Midway between the station and the house she met John, who was striding along quickly, and anxiously scanning the street up and down. + 

“Where in the world have you been, Lucy? I’ve been worried almost crazy!” he exclaimed pettishly, coming up to her. + 

Staring straight before her, she did not answer or pause. John followed her to the house, glancing furtively, from time to time, at her immobile profile. + 

“Lucy! What in the world do you go out without telling anybody for?” cried Nannie who had been waiting in the hall. “It’s been raining, too. John and I were nervous about you.” + 

Without replying, Lucy proceeded upstairs. Dimmie ran through the upper hall to meet her. + 

“Hello, Mamma!” he called. “I thought you’d runned away. Nannie dressed me.” + 

Lucy caught him in her arms and went into her room, locking the door. Pulling him down beside her on the bed, she burst into a terrifying paroxysm of weeping. Dimmie soon began to cry also, from fright, and Lucy grew calmer. + 

“Oh, little son, little son!” she moaned again and again. + 

Soon Dimmie slipped to the floor and began to play with her work box, while she remained in the same position, utterly exhausted. + 

“It’s past time for you to go to Mrs. Hamilton’s, dear,” she observed finally, looking at the alarm clock on the table by the bed, and, at the same time, rising. + 

She brushed his hair and brought his hat from the wardrobe. + 

“Kiss Mother.” + 

Dimmie obeyed, then clattered down the stairs. + 

Once alone, Lucy rearranged her hair carefully, put on a fresh house dress, and descended to the living room. + 

John was walking up and down when Lucy appeared. They could hear Nannie in the dining room instructing Katy regarding luncheon. The windows were open and the breeze that stirred the curtains smelled of the rain and of some aromatic weed that grew high and thick in the adjoining meadow. + 

“You’ll miss your train, John,” Lucy suggested gently as she entered the room. She had regained her usual composure. + 

John consulted his watch. + 

“It’s gone long ago,” he replied moodily. + 

“Well, you can catch the next one if you start at once.” Lucy picked up the small clock that stood beside Nannie’s metronome on the piano. “Go on,” she continued as he hesitated. “There’s no need for your staying.” + 

“Well, Lucy, if you’re going to do things like this at a moment’s notice, how can I⁠—?” + 

“I’m not going to do anything more,” she returned calmly. “Go on to the office. You needn’t worry about me any more.” + 

“Well, if I was certain that you⁠—” + 

“You can be certain,” assured Lucy quickly. + 

“Well, goodbye, then.” John moved slowly toward the hall. + 

“Goodbye, John,” Lucy answered. + 

The front door had scarcely closed after him when Nannie came in from the dining room. + 

“I was just giving Katy orders about luncheon, Lucy,” remarked Nannie suavely, “but of course if you want something different you can tell her and it will be all right.” + 

“It’s all right as it is, Mamma,” said Lucy. + 

Mrs. Merwent raised her eyebrows. + 

“Well! I’m glad you’ve started to call me by my right name.” Lucy did not speak and Nannie continued virtuously. “It’s just as you say about luncheon, Lucy. You are the mistress. I’m sure I don’t want to do or say anything that will make unpleasantness. John has enough to worry about without us disagreeing. I wish we could get along without so many misunderstandings, Lucy. I’m sure I do my part.” + 

“I wish so too, Mamma.” Lucy’s tone was free from irritation or sarcasm. + 

“Well, Lucy, maybe we can from now on. I know nobody tries harder or wants more to have things pleasant than I do.” + 

“Did you notice where my mending was put, Mamma?” Lucy inquired after a moment in the same propitiatory manner. + 

“Wait a minute. I think it’s under that flower stand.” Nannie brightened appreciably. “Did you find it?” she called back, on her way to the kitchen. + 

“Oh, yes. Here it is.” Lucy gave a trembling sigh and seated herself. + 

At almost the same moment that Lucy took up her sewing Jim was walking slowly down the boulevard, his fists in his coat pockets and his eyes fixed on the ground. + 

He did not notice Miss Storms’s car until it was drawn up to the kerb beside him, almost within reach. + 

She opened the door and leaned out. + 

“Get in, Jim. I want to talk to you a little,” she called. Jim obeyed without a word. + 

“Where were you going?” she asked, shaking hands with him. + 

“Nowhere in particular,” he answered. + 

Miss Storms gave an order through the speaking trumpet to her chauffeur, and the car started slowly. + 

“Jim, you’re a good boy,” she began. + 

“I’d rather have you think so than almost anyone,” he replied with a slight smile. + 

“But you’re not very deep,” she continued, smiling back at him. + 

“That’s no news,” he returned. + 

“I’ve been thinking of Lucy night and day lately. It’s up to you to straighten this thing out, Jim. I’ve tried and I can’t.” + 

Jim stared at the passing vehicles for several moments before he spoke. + 

“I know what you mean, Miss Storms. It’s no go. I’ve tried too, and only balled things all up.” He looked straight at her an instant, then glanced away once more, coloring painfully. + 

“But I’m helpless, Jim.” + 

“So am I.” + 

“Just wait a second.” Miss Storms touched his sleeve with her gloved fingers. “It isn’t just that Lucy’s mother thinks I’ve aided and abetted Ellen Low in stealing her husband. The trouble is that I’m not a man.” + 

Jim’s smile was wry. + 

“Being a man wouldn’t help you any, Miss Storms.” He fumbled a tassel on the window curtain at his side. “I’ve tried to help Lucy all I could⁠—and John,” he added. + 

Miss Storms scrutinized him with kindly eyes. He grew red to his hair. + 

“You poor boy!” she said at length, squeezing his hand. “Do you know, I’m inclined to fall in love with you myself.” + 

“Miss Storms,” he stammered, “that is⁠—I’m afraid you don’t⁠—” + 

“I’m afraid I do.” She contradicted him affectionately, releasing him and turning to the window. “Do you want to smoke?” she resumed abruptly. + 

“I’m afraid I’ll contaminate your cushions and curtains,” he objected. + 

“I wish they never had anything worse than you and your pipe around them!” Her expression was whimsical. + 

Jim lit his pipe. + 

“You’re a bad strategist, Jim,” she went on. “What is needed is attack and not defence. And Jim,” she laid her hand on his arm again, “we must save things as they are.” + 

“I understand.” He nodded. “You needn’t be afraid of me now.” He did not see the pity in her eyes at the “now.” “I don’t know what more I can do⁠—either good or harm,” he supplemented. + 

“You can do everything⁠—nearly.” + 

“I don’t see what you mean, Miss Storms.” + 

The ironical lines about her mouth deepened. + 

“Nobody sees,” she retorted almost impatiently. “That’s just it. Jim, I want you to memorize something. It may do you good.” + 

“What is it?” Jim looked puzzled. + 

Miss Storms held up one finger as though speaking to a child, and repeated gravely, + 

“Three blind mice, + 

See how they run. + 

They all run after the farmer’s wife. + 

She cut off their tails with a carving knife. + 

Did you ever see such fools in your life, + 

As three blind mice?” + 

Jim regarded her with a curious expression. + 

“That’s it,” she ended. “There’s nothing more that could be said.” + 

“We’re blind mice, all right,” Jim remarked without spirit, as if to himself. + 

“Poor boy!” Miss Storms spoke simply, almost with tenderness. + 

“She’s cut more than our tails off,” he growled huskily. + 

Miss Storms laid her hand softly on his. + 

“Miss Storms, if you’ll tell me what to do, I’ll do it.” His voice had a new note. + 

“A flank movement is the best, Jim. You must tell Lucy’s mother that you are going to Russellville and will see the Professor Walsh she is going to marry.” + 

“Oh!” There was understanding and admiration in Jim’s voice. + 

“You might mention Minnie Sheldon, too, and I’ll find out a few more from some old letters of Ellen Low’s I have. As I told you, I am helpless on account of Ellen and Arthur Merwent. Anything I might do would make things worse, but you are exactly in the position to succeed, Jim, and it will be easy.” + 

“I wonder where Lucy’s mother could go,” he mused. + 

“Ruthlessness appears to be a purely female trait.” Miss Storms’ half humorous air was full of bitterness. + 

“Oh, I’ll do it all right,” Jim promised. “Don’t you worry.” + 

“I won’t. I’ll call you up and give you the ammunition early in the morning.” + 

“We’re only two blocks from the office. Let me out here,” requested Jim, observing the buildings. “Goodbye.” + 

“Goodbye, Jim.” They shook hands warmly. + 

John’s expression as he came into the house in the evening was worried and uncertain. + 

He had left the office a little earlier than usual and reached Rosedene on a train which arrived there before the customary hour. He found Lucy, Dimmie, and Nannie sitting in the dining room. Lucy was reading aloud to Dimmie from a book of fairy tales and Mrs. Merwent was embroidering some underwear she had purchased on the previous day in consultation with Miss Powell. As John entered both women ceased their employment. + 

“Did you find everything all right at the office?” Lucy inquired with her usual simple manner. + 

“And are you all tired out, John?” added Nannie, smiling at him. + 

“No, I’m not tired,” he answered. “I was worried, that’s all.” As he spoke, he seated himself and lit a cigarette. + 

“Don’t worry, John,” Lucy said, drawing Dimmie to her side. + 

“No,” supplemented Mrs. Merwent. “There’s nothing to worry about, you poor boy.” + 

“Well, I’m glad if there isn’t.” He drew a long breath. + 

“I’m going down town again in the morning,” Nannie continued a moment later. “I just must get some more of this lingerie. It’s perfectly lovely. I’m going to show you part of what I bought after dinner, John.” She laughed coquettishly. + 

“Anyone would think you were making a trousseau,” he commented jealously. + 

Nannie became suddenly serious. + 

“No, John. Not for the present, at least.” + 

There was a brief pause. + 

“I see Carter’s are selling out. You might add to your collection there, Mamma.” Lucy’s hands moved uneasily over Dimmie’s hair as she talked. As she turned toward the child the light falling on her face revealed its haggard outlines. + 

No one responded to her remark. She glanced up and caught John’s gaze fixed on her mother. He drew another sigh of evident relief. + 

“Do you know,” he began with something of his old expansive manner, pushing his hair back from his forehead, “I went to see the sculptures of that new Polish artist today at lunch time. He is the beginning of a new movement away from the Rodin worship of sex and emotion in art.” + 

“I don’t think they ought to allow some statues to be exhibited,” declared Nannie. + 

“It isn’t so much the moral or ethical objection that influences me,” John elaborated, “but, as I have said before, I don’t believe in the emotional and literary in art. The artist’s business is to create beauty, not to comment upon it. The public is intelligent enough to understand and appreciate real artistic achievement, without tricks to call their attention to it. You really ought to see the exhibit, Lucy.” + 

“I should like to,” said Lucy encouragingly. + 

“And I too,” seconded Nannie. + 

“Well, we’ll all go,” he proposed. + 

John talked much during dinner. When it was over and Lucy had accompanied Dimmie up to bed, Nannie turned to John sweetly. + 

“I’ll sing to you a little, John,” she suggested. + 

“Yes, Nannie,” he acquiesced. He stretched his arms over his head in a gesture of well being. “I feel in the mood for music tonight,” he added comfortably. + 

Nannie seated herself at the piano. Lighting a cigarette, John reclined in the Morris chair beside her. + 

The next day John whistled as he walked to the station. + 

“Good morning,” he called as he entered the office. + 

Jim was bending over a filing case and looked up with slight surprise. + 

“Good morning,” he said. “How is everybody at your house?” + 

“Oh, everybody’s well,” John answered, and, picking up his mail, began to whistle again. “Nannie is coming down town on the nine-thirty to do some shopping,” he observed as he was opening a letter a moment later. + 

Jim glanced up again, but was silent. + 

The two worked on without further conversation until about nine o’clock, when Jim rose. He reached for his hat. + 

“When will you be back?” John inquired, tilting his chair toward the wall and opening his cigarette case. + 

“Not till after lunch,” Jim informed him. “I’m going several places, Layard’s among them.” + 

On reaching the street, however, Jim boarded a car from which he descended near the station that was the terminus for suburban trains from Rosedene, and when Mrs. Merwent emerged from the building he was one of the first pedestrians she encountered. + 

“How do you do, Mrs. Merwent?” He greeted her pleasantly, raising his hat as he spoke. “Aren’t you lost in this great city all alone?” + 

“Why, how do you do, Mr. Sprague?” cooed Nannie, shaking hands. “What a pleasant surprise! I thought you were at the office with John.” + 

“I was until a few minutes ago,” he explained, turning and walking beside her. “I’m out hunting for lath and cement now, but I’m glad to have run across you. I’ve been wanting to have a little talk with you for a long time.” + 

“Yes?” responded Nannie, scrutinizing him sharply from under her hat. + 

“Are you in a hurry now?” continued Jim. “Can’t I take you somewhere where we can sit down and have a soft drink?” + 

“Why, thank you, Mr. Sprague,” she declined, “but I am rather in a hurry. I am anxious to get back to Lucy, you know. She depends so on me, and just now she’s not as well as usual.” + 

“Is she worse?” Jim half halted. + 

“No. Just about as usual.” Nannie took note of his perturbation. “I think the summers here are trying on her. I wish she could get away to the country for a couple of months.” + 

Jim quickened his pace. + 

“Well, of course I don’t want to detain you, Mrs. Merwent, but what I want to say won’t take more than ten minutes. Suppose we walk about in this little park a moment. It’s almost empty and we’ll be practically alone.” + 

“Why, Mr. Sprague,” Nannie laughed nervously, “you almost frighten me. You talk like a⁠—conspirator!” + 

“Don’t be afraid. I’m not dangerous. Here, let’s go this way.” And he led her from the street into a shady promenade. + 

Nannie, hesitating slightly at first, smiled and conversed about the weather, the occasional people they met in the course of their walk, and other irrelevant topics. + 

“Now what was it you wanted to tell me, Mr. Sprague?” she insisted suddenly as they neared the center of the park. + 

“Well, it is this, Mrs. Merwent. I am going to Russellville.” + 

Nannie, of course, could not change her artificial color, but her eyes and mouth opened their widest. + 

“On business?” she inquired uncomfortably. + 

“No. I am going to see Professor Walsh, and Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon, and Mr. Blair, and Judge Dodd, and several other friends of yours.” + 

Nannie sat down on a bench by the path. Jim seated himself on the same bench, a little distance from her. His brown eyes appeared yellowish in the sunlight as they looked straight into hers. + 

“Wha⁠—what for?” she faltered in a voice she strove in vain to control. + 

“I want to talk to them.” + 

“Why, you don’t know any of them,” objected Mrs. Merwent perplexedly, her eyes falling before his. + 

“No. But I shall take letters of introduction from Professor Walsh’s cousin and others⁠—letters which will enable me to know them and to have their confidence.” + 

“Professor Walsh’s cousin?” interrogated Nannie, her voice unsteady. “How did you know about Professor Walsh? I never heard of his cousin. Where does he live?” + 

“Here in Chicago.” + 

“Why, Professor Walsh never told me,” she confessed blankly. “He never even said he had a relative near here. Who is he?” + 

“He’s a lawyer. He was consultant to Mr. Merwent’s attorney in the divorce case against you. Professor Walsh himself gave Mr. Merwent the letter of introduction.” + 

Nannie’s eyes opened even wider, if possible, at this. + 

“But what are you going for? What are you going to do?” she continued. + 

“I’m going to talk to your friends, Mrs. Merwent.” + 

“You’re trying to scare me.” Nannie made a feeble attempt at bravado. “What have I got to do with all this? You have nothing to tell my friends about me.” + 

“Yes, I have,” Jim asserted vigorously. + 

“What?” demanded Mrs. Merwent, her hands shaking as she played with her purse and parasol handle. + 

“I’m going to ask them, especially Professor Walsh, if they approve of what you are doing to your daughter’s home.” + 

Nannie gazed at him defiantly. + 

“What am I doing?” + 

“We probably shouldn’t agree as to that, Mrs. Merwent, but I shall give them my version of it.” + 

Nannie was visibly working up her anger. + 

“This is pure spite, Mr. Sprague. You have never liked me, because I saw through your weakness for Lucy, but you can’t frighten me. I suppose she’s put you up to this! I can tell my story, too, and we’ll see who comes out of it best.” + 

“Now, you’re bluffing, Mrs. Merwent, and it won’t go. I am quite ready to believe that you would befoul your daughter’s name to try to clear yourself, but you know as well as I do that it wouldn’t save you. In any case your daughter could not possibly be in a worse situation than she is, and, if you want war, we’ll leave it to your friends and hers to decide. She hasn’t the slightest idea that I am doing this. I think that’s all I wanted to say, Mrs. Merwent.” And Jim rose. + 

“Have you written to Professor Walsh?” inquired Nannie weakly. + 

“Not yet,” Jim admitted grimly. + 

“It will be a fine thing for a man to do, going around talking about a woman behind her back!” + 

“We won’t discuss that, Mrs. Merwent.” + 

“I don’t know⁠—I don’t understand what you mean by all this, Mr. Sprague. One thing is sure, I shall tell Lucy and John about your threats.” + 

“Do!” Jim dared, turning to go. + 

“Wait a minute, Mr. Sprague.” Nannie was staring about aimlessly in every direction. “I⁠—I don’t know how long I shall stay in Chicago. Of course your insinuations are ridiculous, but I hate to hurt Lucy’s feelings, especially when she is already in such a nervous state, and make trouble between you and John. So far as I am concerned you could go to Russellville every day, but Lucy is very dear to me. She is my only child. If you made trouble for me remember it would involve her.” As Mrs. Merwent stared at Jim tears rose to her eyes but they did not altogether veil her look of hate and bafflement. + 

“I’m not going for a week, Mrs. Merwent,” Jim told her inexorably. Then, raising his hat, he left her sitting on the bench. + 

In the station, before taking the Rosedene train, Mrs. Merwent lingered for twenty minutes or more in the neighborhood of the telegraph office. Finally, with sudden decision she approached the desk and dispatched a message. + 