uld shake the
very foundation of his life; for a moment he could not speak.

The silence in which she awaited the answer to her question became
profound and in it the ticking of the old clock sounded like the blows
of a blacksmith's hammer, the purring of the cat like the roar of
machinery, and the beating of his heart like the dull thud of a
battering ram.

As if reading his inmost thoughts, the white-faced woman said: "And so
thee thought that I was always old and gray?"

As she uttered these words in a tone of indescribable sadness, a faint
smile played around the corners of her mouth--such a marble smile as
might have appeared upon the face of Niobe. In an instant more it had
composed itself into its former sadness, as a sheet of pure water
resumes its calmness, after having been lightly stirred by a summer
wind.

So long did she stand regarding him with looks of unutterable love that
he could not endure the strain of the withheld secret, but exclaimed
hoarsely: "Go on! Mother, for God's sake, go on! If thee has something
to disclose, reveal it at once!"

It seemed impossible for her to speak. The opening of the secrets of
her heart to God before the bar of judgment could have cost her no
greater effort than this confession to her son.

"David," she said, in a voice that sounded like an echo of a long-dead
past, "the fear that the sins of thy parents should be visited upon thee
has tormented every hour of my life. I have watched thee and prayed for
thee as no one but a mother who has drunk the bitter cup to its dregs
could ever do. I have trembled at every childish sin. In every little
fault I have beheld a miniature of the vices of thy mother and thy
father--thy father! Oh! David, my son--my son!"

The white lips parted, but no sound issued from them. She raised her
white hand and clutched at her throat as if choking. Then she trembled,
gasped, reeled, and fell forward into his arms.

In a moment more, the agitated heart had ceased to beat, and the secret
of her life was hidden in its mysterious silence. The sudden,
inexplicable and calamitous nature of this event came near unsettling
the mental balance of the sensitive and highly organized youth. Coming
as it did upon the very heels of the experiences which had so thoroughly
shaken his faith in the old life, he felt himself to be the target for
every arrow in the quiver of misfortune.

He seemed to himself not so much like a boat that had sprung a singl