life of
Phil's mother were of the slightest importance to Phil. He shook his
head impatiently and shrugged his shoulders.

"Lois," he blurted, "is in Dresden."

"Then she _has_ left him!" cried Mrs. Fosdick, with a note of triumph
that trumpeted the complete vindication of Mrs. Waterman's averments.

"I tell you I don't know anything about Holton," replied Amzi, who had,
in strictest truth, told them nothing of the kind. He experienced the
instant regret suffered by secretive persons who watch a long-guarded
fact slip away beyond reclamation; but repentance could avail nothing,
so he added,--

"Yes; she's abroad. She's been over there for some time."

"Of course, he's run through her money; that was to be expected!"
exclaimed Mrs. Fosdick in a tone that implied a deep resentment of the
fate that had robbed the erring Lois of her money.

"If he did she never told me so," Amzi answered. "But Lois was never
what you might call a squealer; if he robbed her you can be pretty dead
sure she wouldn't sob about it on the street corners. That wouldn't be a
bit like the Lois I remember. Lois wasn't the woman to go scampering off
after the Devil and then get scared and burst out crying when she found
her shoes beginning to get hot."

After all these years Amzi had spoken, and his sisters did not like his
tone. Their brother, a gentleman the correctness of whose life had never
been questioned, was referring to the conduct of the sister who had
disgraced her family in outrageous and sinful terms. The Prince of
Darkness and the fervid pavements of his kingdom were not to be brought
into conversation with any such lightness, as though the going to the
Devil were not, after all, so horrible--not something to be whispered
with terror in the dark confessional of their souls. One might have
imagined that Lois's very sins had endeared her to this phlegmatic older
brother! There was not only this gloomy reflection, but his admissions
had opened long vistas to their imaginations. He probably knew more than
he meant to disclose, and this made it necessary to continue their
pumping with the greatest discretion.

"It would be hard if she came back on you for help--after everything
that's happened; but of course that would be your affair, Amzi," said
Mrs. Hastings leadingly.

"It would," Amzi admitted explosively. "It undoubtedly would!"

This, in their eagerness, seemed an admission. The interview was proving
fruitful beyond their fo