ealized with a thrill of stricken conscience
that Mrs. Brackett was sitting up for him, and he was afraid. He tried
the front door and found it unlocked. He went in. On the right, the door
leading into the parlor stood open. On the table burned a lamp. Beside
the table in the crushed plush rocker sat Mrs. Brackett. Her spectacles
were pushed high up on her forehead. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth
was slightly open. From the corners of her eyes red marks ran down her
cheeks. Her thin gray hair was in disarray. In her lap, open, lay her
huge family Bible; a spray of pressed maidenhair fern marked the place.

Aladdin, somewhat sobered by now, and already stung with the anguish of
remorse, tiptoed into the parlor and softly blew out the light; but the
instant before he did so he glanced down at the Bible in the good lady's
lap and saw that she had been reading about the prodigal son. Great
tears ran out of Aladdin's eyes. He went up-stairs, weeping and on
tiptoe, and as he passed the door of his brother's room he heard a stir
within.

"Is that you, 'Laddin?"

"Sssh, darlint," said Aladdin; "you'll wake Mother Brackett."

In his own room there was a lamp burning low, and on his bureau was a
note for him from Margaret:

DEAR ALADDIN: Papa wants you to come up and have supper with us.
Peter Manners is here, and I think it will be fun. Please do come, and
remember a lot of foolish songs to sing. Why wouldn't you speak to me?
It hurts so when you act like that....

Aladdin, kissing the note, went down on his knees and twice began to
pray, "O God--O God!" He could say no more, but all the penitence and
heartburnings of his soul were in his prayer. Later he lay on his bed
staring into a darkness which moved in wheels, and he kept saying to the
darkness:

"Neither the angels in Heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee."

Late in the still morning he awoke, grieving and hurt, for he did not
see how he should ever face Mrs. Brackett, or his brother, or Margaret,
or himself, or anybody ever again.

XII

There was in town at this time what passed for a comic-opera troupe, and
Margaret and her father, by way of doing honor to their guest, invited
all the young people to go to the performance and attend a supper
afterward. The party occupied the three foremost rows in the music-hall,
and Aladdin sat next to Marga