s as though dead and buried beneath his
odd house. An old Frenchman, his wife, and his son Jacques Moisson
seemed content to live there and look after the household duties. Some
ten years later a little girl of nine appeared, a niece of Arsdale's,
it was said, and this completed the household, though old Pere Moisson
died in the course of time, leaving his wife and Jacques as a sort of
legacy to his old master, for a body-guard. The only reports of the
inmates to the outside world came through the other servants who were
employed here from time to time, and the most they had to say was that
Arsdale was "queer," and they did n't think it was the place to bring
up young children, though the master did adore the very ground they
walked on. When the children were older, Arsdale was seen at concerts
and the theatre with them, but seemed to resent any attempt on the part
of well meaning acquaintances to renew social ties. People remarked
upon how old for his age he had grown, and some spoke in a whisper of
the spirituality of his features.

So much every one knew and that was nothing. What Elaine Arsdale, whom
he had legally adopted, knew, was what caused the white light about the
bowed head of the man. When she first learned she could not tell, but
as a very young girl she remembered days when he came to her with his
face very white and tense, and in his eyes the terror of one in great
pain, and said to her,

"Little girl, will you sit with me a bit?"

So she would take a seat by the window in the library and he would face
her very quietly with his long fingers twined around the chair arms.
He would not speak and she knew that he did not wish her to speak. He
wished for her only to sit there where he could see her. She was never
afraid, but at times there came into his eyes a look that tempted her
to cry. Sometimes an hour, sometimes two hours passed, and then he
would rise to his feet and walk unsteadily towards her and say,

"Now I may kiss your forehead, Elaine."

He would kiss her, and shortly after fall into a deep sleep of
exhaustion.

Between these periods, which she did not understand save that in some
way he suffered a great deal, he was to her the gentlest and kindest
guardian that ever a girl had. He personally superintended her studies
and those of Ben, her only other playmate. The day was divided into
regular hours for work and play. In the morning at nine he met them in
the library and heard