scussion about Cecco, the Italian
servant. The women followed, with David at Myrtle's shoulder, leaving
Howat and Gilbert Penny.

The latter was still a handsome man, with his own hair silvered on a
ruddy countenance, and a careful taste in clothes. His nose was
predominant, with a wide-cleft mouth above a square chin. "I had
thought," he said deliberately, "that you were employed in the counting
house, but Schwar tells me that it has been a week since you were seen
there." He raised a broad hand to silence Howat's reply. "While I can
afford to keep you merely at hunting, the result to the table is so
meagre that I'm not justified. There is no St. James here, in
Pennsylvania, no gentlemen supported by the Crown for the purpose of
amusement. You will have to sail for England if you expect that sort of
thing." He rose, "You owe an intelligent interest in Myrtle Forge, to
your sisters and mother, toward all that I have accomplished. It's a
rich property, and it's growing bigger. Already young Forsythe has a
list of improvements to be instituted at the Furnace--clerks and a
manager and new system for carrying on the blast."

"I'm not an iron man," Howat Penny told him, "I'm not a clerk. David
can take all that over for you, particularly if he marries one of the
girls."

"What are you?" the elder demanded sharply.

"You ought to know. You explained it fully enough to the Winscombes."

"If it wasn't for that you'd have been dumping slag five years ago. What
I hoped was that with maturity some sense of obligation would be born
into you. What is this pretended affection for your mother worth if you
are unwilling to conserve, make safe, her future, in case I die?" All
that his father said was logical, just; but it only brought him a
renewed sense of his impotence before very old and implacable inner
forces.

"I'll try again," he briefly agreed. "But I warn you, it will do little
good. There is no pretence in the affection you spoke of, but--but
something stronger--" he gave up as hopeless the effort to explain all
that had swept through his mind.

Gilbert Penny abruptly left the room.

It transpired that the Italian servant was to be left at Myrtle Forge;
he was now assisting the servants in strapping a box behind the chaise
that was to carry Mr. Winscombe and David to the city. Howat pictured
the long, supple hands of the Italian hooking Mrs. Winscombe into her
clothes, and a sudden, hot revulsion clouded his brain. W