Produced by Eric Eldred Clay Masseiand the Online Distributed Proofreading TeamThe Desert and The SownMARY HALLOCK FOOTECONTENTSI    A COUNCIL OF THE ELDERSII   INTRODUCING A SONINLAWIII  THE INITIAL LOVEIV   A MAN THAT HAD A WELL IN HIS OWN COURTV    DISINHERITEDVI   AN APPEAL TO NATUREVII  MARKING TIMEVIII A HUNTERS DIARYIX   THE POWER OF WEAKNESSX    THE WHITE PERILXI   A SEARCHING OF HEARTSXII  THE BLOODWITEXIII CURTAINXIV  KIND INQUIRIESXV   A BRIDEGROOM OF SNOWXVI  THE NATURE OF AN OATHXVII THE HIDDEN TRAILXVIIITHE STAR IN THE EASTXIX  PILGRIMS AND STRANGERSXX   A STATION IN THE DESERTXXI  INJURIOUS REPORTS CONCERNING AN OLD HOUSEXXII THE CASE STRIKES INXXIIIRESTIVENESSXXIV INDIAN SUMMERXXV  THE FELL FROSTXXVI PEACE TO THIS HOUSEIA COUNCIL OF THE ELDERSIt was an evening of sudden mildness following a dry October gale Thecolonel had miscalculated the temperature by one logonly one hedeclared but that had proved a pitchy one and the chimney bellowed withflame From end to end the room was alight with it as if the storedupenergies of a whole pinetree had been sacrificed in the consumption ofthat fourfoot stickThe young persons of the house had escaped laughing into the fresh nightair but the colonel was hemmed in on every side deserted by hisdaughter mocked by the work of his own hands and torn between the dutiesof a host and the hosts helpless craving for his afterdinner cigarAcross the hearth filling with her silks all the visible room in his ownfavorite settle corner sat the one woman on earth it most behooved him tobe civil tothe future motherinlaw of his only child That Moya was awilling nay a reckless hostage did not lessen her fathers awe of thesituationMrs Bogardus according to her wont at this hour was composedly doingnothing The colonel could not make his retreat under cover of her real orfeigned absorption in any of the small scattering pursuits which distractthe female mind When she read she readshe never looked at books Whenshe sewed she sewedpresumably but no one ever saw her do it Her mindwas economic and practical and she saved it whole like many men offorce for whatever she deemed her best paying sphere of actionIt was a silence that crackled with heat The colonel wrathfullyperspiring in the glow of that impenitent stick frowned at it like aninquisitor Presently Mrs Bogardus looked up and her expression softenedas she saw the energetic despair upon his faceColonel dont you always smoke after dinnerThat is my bad habit madam I belong to the generation thatsmokesafter dinner and most other timesmore than is good for usColonel Middleton belonged also to the generation that can carry asentence through to the finish in handsome style and he did it with asuave Virginian accent as easy as his seat in the saddle Mrs Bogardusalways gave him her respectful attention during his best performancesthough she was a woman of short sentences herselfDont you smoke in this room sometimes she asked with a barelyperceptible sniff the merest contraction of her housewifely nostrilsAhh Those rascally curtains and cushions You ladieswomen I shouldsayMoya wont let me say ladiesyou bolster us up with comforts onpurpose to betray usYou can say ladies to me smiled the very handsome one before himThats the generation _I_ belong toThe colonel bowed playfully Well you know I dont detect myself buttheres no doubt I have infected the premisesOpen fires are good ventilators I wish you would smoke now If youdont I shall have to go away and Im exceedingly comfortableYou are exceedingly charming to say soon top of that last stick tooThe colonel had Irish as well as Virginian progenitors Well he sighedproceeding to make himself conditionally happy Moya will never forgiveme We spoil each other shamefully when were alone but of course we tryto jack each other up when company comes Its a great comfort to havesome one to spoil isnt it now I neednt ask which it is in yourfamilyThe spoiled one Mrs Bogardus smiled rather coldly A woman we had forgoverness when Christine was a little thing used to say That child isthe stuff that tyrants are made of Tyrants are made by the will of theirsubjects dont you think generally speakingWell you couldnt have made a tyrant of your son Mrs Bogardus Hesthe Universal Spoiler Hell ruin my striker Jephson I shall have tosend the fellow back to the ranks I dont know how you keep a servantgood for anything with Paul aroundPaul thinks he doesnt like to be waited on Pauls mother observedshrewdly He says that only invalids old people and children have anyclaim on the personal service of othersBy George I found him blacking his own bootsMrs Bogardus laughedBut Im paying a man to do it for him It upsets my contract with thatother fellow for Paul to do his work We have a claim on what we pay forin this worldI suppose we have But Paul thinks that nothing can pay the price ofthose artificial relations between man and man I think thats the way heputs itGood Heavens Has the boy read history Its a relation that began whenthe world was made and will last while men are in itI am not defending Pauls ideas Colonel I have a great sympathy withtyrants myself You must talk to him He will amuse youMy word Its a ticklish kind of amusement when _we_ get talking Whythe boy wants to turn the poor old world upside downmake us all stand onour heads to give our feet a rest Now I respect my feetthe coloneldrew them in a little as the ladys eyes involuntarily took the directionof his allusionI take the best care I can of them but I propose tokeep my head such as it is on top till I go under altogether Theseyoung philanthropists They assume that the Hands and the Feet of theworld the class that serves in that capacity have got the same nerves asthe