alk about his
affairs--things had a habit of not occurring to Fisbee--and the efforts
of the gossips to draw him out always passed over his serene and absent
head.

"It was a blow to my wife," the old man continued, sadly, "and I cannot
deny that her reproaches were as vehement as her disappointment was
sincere." He hurried over this portion of his narrative with a vaguely
troubled look, but the intelligent Parker read poor Mrs. Fisbee's state
of mind between the sentences. "She never seemed to regard me in the
same light again," the archaeologist went on. "She did not conceal
from me that she was surprised and that she could not look upon me as a
practical man; indeed, I may say, she appeared to regard me with marked
antipathy. She sent for her sister, and begged her to take our daughter
and keep her from me, as she did not consider me practical enough-I will
substitute for her more embittered expressions--to provide for a
child and instruct it in the world's ways. My sister-in-law, who was
childless, consented to adopt the little one, on the conditions that
I renounced all claim, and that the child legally assumed her name and
should be in all respects as her own daughter, and that I consented to
see her but once a year, in Rouen, at my brother-in-law's home.

"I should have refused, but I--my wife--that is--she was--very
pressing--in her last hours, and they all seemed to feel that I ought to
make amends--all except the little girl herself, I should say, for she
possessed, even as an infant, an exceptional affection for her father.
I had nothing; my salary was gone, and I was discomfited by the combined
actions of the trustees and my relatives, so--I--I gave her up to them,
and my wife passed away in a more cheerful frame of mind, I think. That
is about all. One of the instructors obtained the position here for me,
which I--I finally--lost, and I went to See the little girl every New
Year's day. This year she declared her intention of visiting _me_, but
she was persuaded by friends who were conversant with the circumstances
to stay with them, where I could be with her almost as much as at my
apartment at Mr. Tibbs's. She had long since declared her intention of
some day returning to live with me, and when she came she was strenuous
in insisting that the day had come." The old man's voice broke suddenly
as he observed: "She has--a very--beautiful--character, Mr. Parker."

The foreman nodded with warm confirmation. "