of women
and drink and general restlessness would be conquered? Perhaps. There
had never been a surer proof that his love for Maggie was a real and
unselfish love than his hesitation on that wretched day when he seemed
utterly deserted by mankind, when Maggie seemed the only friend he had
in the world.

Everything was just out of reach, and some perverse destiny prevented
him from realising any desire that had a spark of honesty and decency
in it. It was not wonderful that in the midst of his loneliness and
unhappiness he should have been tempted back to the old paths again,
men, women, places that for more than three months now he had been
struggling to abandon.

All that day he struggled with temptation. He had not seen Maggie for a
week, and during the last three days he had not heard from her, the
adventurous Jane having defied the aunts and left.

At luncheon he asked about his father, whom he had not seen for two
days.

"Father had a very bad night. He's asleep now."

"There's something on to-night, isn't there?" he asked.

"There's a service," Amy answered shortly.

"Father oughtn't to go," he went on. "I suppose your friend Thurston
can manage."

Amy looked at him. "Father's got to go. It's very important."

"Oh, of course, if you want to kill father with all your beastly
services--" he broke in furiously.

"It won't be--" Amy began, and then, as though she did not trust
herself to continue, got up and left the room.

"Mother," he said, "why on earth don't you do something?"

"I, dear?" she looked at him placidly. "In what way?"

"They're killing father between them with all these services and the
rest of the nonsense."

"Your father doesn't listen to anything I say, dear."

"He ought to go away for a long rest."

"Well, dear, perhaps he will soon. You know I have nothing to do with
the Chapel. That was settled years ago. I wouldn't interfere for a
great deal."

Martin turned fiercely upon her saying:

"Mother, don't you care?"

"Care, dear?"

"Yes, about father--his living and getting well again and being happy
as he used to be. What's happened to this place?"

She looked at him in the strangest way. He suddenly felt that he'd
never seen her before.

"There are a number of things, Martin, that you don't understand--a
number of things. You are away from us for years, you come back to us
and expect things to be the same."

"You and Amy," he said, "both of you, have kept me out of