was sapped by the crushing entity of the steel works, the enormous heat
and energy and strain of the open hearth. If the younger did not lay off
he would, unquestionably, break. Nevertheless, Howat was totally
unprepared for the amazing suggestion quietly advanced by Mariana.
"Jimmy," she said, "couldn't you come to Shadrach for those two weeks?
You'd find the quiet there wonderful. And any doctor will advise you to
leave your family for a proper rest. I'm certain Howat would be as nice
as possible."

A sudden, patent longing leaped to James Polder's countenance. Actually
he stuttered with a surprised delight. Damn it, there was nothing for
him, Howat, to do but stare like a helpless idiot. He ought to say
something, second Mariana's impudent invitation, at once. She ignored
him, gazing intently at the younger man. He, too, meeting Mariana's
eyes, had apparently totally forgot the unimportant presence of Howat
Penny. And he had been married to his Harriet for a scant half year!
Howat Penny thought mechanically of the Polders' depressing house, the
odours of old cooking and cheap cigarettes, the feverish yapping of the
silky animal, Cherette, with matted, pinkish eyes. The precipitant,
prideful, young fool! Why hadn't he held onto the merest memory, the
most distant chance in the world, of Mariana, rather than fling himself,
his injured self-opinion, into this stew?

"Don't say it can't be managed," she persisted. "Anything may. It's
absolutely necessary; you can get a prescription--two weeks of green
valley and robins and country eggs. Howat will take your money from you
at penny sniff, and I'll--I'll come out for dinner."

"Harriet thought of going back to the family," he replied; "but it
might--" he turned at last to Howat Penny. "Would you have me?" he asked
directly. What, in thunder, choice of reply did he have? Howat couldn't
point out the shamelessness of such an arrangement. Harriet, it seemed,
was not to be considered; just as if she were a merely disinterested
connection. He issued a belated period to the effect that Shadrach was
spacious and Rudolph a capable attendant. It was, he saw, sufficient.
"We can write," said Mariana. She endeavoured to caress Howat's hand,
but he indignantly frustrated her.

"I'll have to get back to the hearth," James Polder announced
regretfully. "It's been wonderful," he told Mariana Jannan. Howat
scraped his chair at the baldness of Polder's pleasure. "Your work is
tremend