gree with you!" Dr. Archie shook his head.
"But there would be complications under another system, too. The whole
question of a young man's marrying has looked pretty grave to me for a
long while. How have they the courage to keep on doing it? It depresses
me now to buy wedding presents." For some time the doctor watched his
guest, who was sunk in bitter reflections. "Such things used to go
better than they do now, I believe. Seems to me all the married people I
knew when I was a boy were happy enough." He paused again and bit the
end off a fresh cigar. "You never saw Thea's mother, did you, Ottenburg?
That's a pity. Mrs. Kronborg was a fine woman. I've always been afraid
Thea made a mistake, not coming home when Mrs. Kronborg was ill, no
matter what it cost her."

Ottenburg moved about restlessly. "She couldn't, Archie, she positively
couldn't. I felt you never understood that, but I was in Dresden at the
time, and though I wasn't seeing much of her, I could size up the
situation for myself. It was by just a lucky chance that she got to sing
ELIZABETH that time at the Dresden Opera, a complication of
circumstances. If she'd run away, for any reason, she might have waited
years for such a chance to come again. She gave a wonderful performance
and made a great impression. They offered her certain terms; she had to
take them and follow it up then and there. In that game you can't lose a
single trick. She was ill herself, but she sang. Her mother was ill, and
she sang. No, you mustn't hold that against her, Archie. She did the
right thing there." Ottenburg drew out his watch. "Hello! I must be
traveling. You hear from her regularly?"

"More or less regularly. She was never much of a letter-writer. She tells
me about her engagements and contracts, but I know so little about that
business that it doesn't mean much to me beyond the figures, which seem
very impressive. We've had a good deal of business correspondence, about
putting up a stone to her father and mother, and, lately, about her
youngest brother, Thor. He is with me now; he drives my car. To-day he's
up at the mine."

Ottenburg, who had picked up his overcoat, dropped it. "Drives your
car?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes. Thea and I have had a good deal of bother about Thor. We tried a
business college, and an engineering school, but it was no good. Thor
was born a chauffeur before there were cars to drive. He was never good
for anything else; lay around home an