The San Francisco call., 1904-12-18

Mrs. Bolton had been moving about
the room restlessly. Eer back was to
Caylesham as she answered:
He won't He says he can't He
says -'
Caylesham threw a glance at her, his
What does he say, Flora?"
"Oh. it's nonsense-and he needn't
say il to me, anyhow. 1t really isn't
particularly pleasant for me- Oh, well,
then. he says he's not fit to go near
them" She turned round to him;
there was a flush on her face. Such
nOnsense!' she ended impatiently.
Caylesham pulled his mustache and
smiled reflectively.
4 suppose it might take him like
that" he observed with an impartial
air.
oh. / know you're only laughing at
me- Rut 1 tell you, 1 don't like it.
Frank"
These little incidents are-well, Incl
dental, Flora. Innocent children. you
know And [ shouldn't be surprised if
he even made excuses for Harriet
now?"
No, he doesn't do that. It's the chill
dreh. Stop smiling like that. will you?
Certainly. my dear Flora. Ny smile
was a pure oversight
1T was all / cou.d do to get him to
go to The funeral Do you think she
killed herself. Fra1k?'
I've not the least intention of exam
lining the question. What can it mat
ter?"
Mrs Bolton shrugged her shoulders
imPatiently. II did seem to her to
matter, but she would not let Gayle
sham think that It mattered much.
She returned to her point about the
children.
Hes miserable. thinking about them.
and yet be won't so near them. l call
it idiotic
so co l. But then they aren't our
children
Well I'm not going to stand his
saying it again and again to me-
4 really agree. There can't be any
reason for saving suchea thing more
than once"
She broke into a vexed laugh
When you've had all the fun you
can get out of me, perhaps you will be-
gin TO help me. You see, want it set
tied. ] want TO be off to Monte with
Pattie"
Il see. You want to 60 with Pattie
and"
Mrs. Bolton shook her head.
Just YOU and Pattie?"
she's going to stand it TO me; l
haven't got a farthing And, / say,
Frank. he ought to go back to those
poor little wretches now. You can
make him do it if you like, you know.
I2 Well. I'm an odd sort of party
for such . job.
Not bit. He'll listen to you just
becaUse-well. because
L haven't spared your feelings,
Flora, don't mind mine
Because he knows you don't talk
humbug or can't"
You're being complimentary after
all-or at any rate you're meaning to
be. And you'd never see him again?"
Hell never want TO see me- She
was facing Caylesham now. I've been
fond Of poor old Tom. Come, you know
1 have? Say that for me-"
Yes, l know you have. I've reproved
you for ii myself"
But he'll not want to see me-and
soon I shan't want to see him either"
She looked little distressed for a
minute, thea shrugged her shoulders
with u laugh:
That's the wav of the world
'Of part of it," Caylesham murmured
as he lit a cigar
But he was really sorry for Mrs. Boil
ton. Notwithstanding a notable mix
ture OF motives, in which the condition
OF her purse and the opportunity of 60
ing to the Riviera figured largely, she
was grieved at the way in which her
friendship with Tom was ending
grleVed that il must end. and hurt that
Tom should desire to have it ended
She had always suffered from this un-
fortunate tendency to kindly emotions
which the -eXigencies of her position did
not permit her to indulge. Indeed il
was Nery likely the kindly emotions
which had originally produced the po-
sition- This did rot make the matter
any better: the ultimate incongruity
was none the less undesirable With
MS indifference TO accented codes
Caylesham thought it rather lament
able, too. Still she did want, above all
things, TO go to the Riviera with Pat
pfces
with life. and it was not clear that she
was getting the worst of the bargain
With Flora Bolton set aside land
Of cougse she had no reasonable
title TO consideration) the case
seemed a simple one to Caylesham
and his mission an obvious utterance
OF common sense. He could not enter
fully into Tom Courtland's mind Tom
was not naturally a lawiess man. des->
peration had made him break loose.
The by-gcne desperation was forgotten
now IN pity for his children and for the
woman whom, after all, he had once
loved; and he looked with shame on
the thing he had done attributing to il
all the results which Harriets fury had
engrafted on it. Broken in fortune and
IN career broken, tco, in self-respect,
he had been likely to drift on in a life
which he had come to abhor He felt
his presence an outrage on his chill
dren. If the death of his wife had
seemed TO save him from due punish
ment, here was a penalty different but
hardly less severe. While he was in
this mood Caylesham was the best man
to carry the message to him. The only
chance with Tom was to treat what he
had done as natural but to insist that
the sequence of events was utterly un-
expected and essentially uncOnnected
with it. To urge the gravity of his Of
fense would have been to make repara-
ton and atonement impossible Cayles-
ham took very strong and simple
line. He declined to discuss the state
CT Toms conscience, or the biackness
Of Toms mind. or even the whiteness
of the minds of the children. Every
body was very much alike or would
be in a few years, anyhow, and Tom
was not to be an ass The line of argu-
ment was not exalted. but it was
adapted to the needs of the case
My dear chap, if you come to that,
what man is fit to look his children in
the face2' he asked impatiently
But then 1t occurred to him that he
was idealizing-a thing he hated.
10