turn his back so quickly upon the promised land of
accomplishment. Now it was beyond his power to do otherwise, unless he
were willing to force Milly and the child to starve on what he could
make. If that had ever been possible, it surely was not any longer.

So with the last of the hoard he bought their tickets, and all three
sailed for New York on the next steamer.

PART FOUR

REALITIES

I

HOME ONCE MORE

There was no one at the dock to greet them.

"Your friends come down to see you off," Milly reflected sadly, while
Bragdon was struggling with the inspectors, "but they let you find your
way back by yourself!"

It was hot and very noisy,--the New World,--and no one seemed to care
about anything. As they made their way up town through the crowded
streets, Milly felt it must be impossible for human beings to do more
than keep alive in this maelstrom. The aspect of an American city with
its savage roar, especially of New York in the full cry of the day's
work, was simply terrifying after two years of Europe. There was
something so sordidly repellent in the flimsily furnished rooms of the
hotel where they went first, that she shed a few tears of pure
homesickness. She longed to take the first train west; for the sights
and the sounds of Chicago, if no gentler, were at least more familiar.

She did not know what they would do; husband and wife had not discussed
plans on the homeward voyage or referred in any way to the future, both
shrinking from the quaking bog that lay between them. Now their course
must speedily be settled. When Bragdon went out after establishing them
in their hotel, Milly felt curiously like a passenger on a ship whose
ticket had been taken for her and all arrangements made by another. All
she could do, for the present at least, was to wait and see what would
happen....

Towards evening Big Brother came in with Jack and welcomed her back
nonchalantly. He had the New York air of unconcern over departures and
arrivals, living as he had all his life in a place where coming and
going was the daily order of life. He declared that Milly had grown
prettier than ever and accepted his niece with condescending
irony,--"Hello, missy, so you came along, too? Made in France, eh!" and
chuckled over the worn joke.

It seemed that no business disaster had caused him to send his cable
recalling them. Business, he declared, was "fine, fine, better all the
time," in the American manner. It