he hall at the foot of the stairs, and put a witless
cheeriness into the voice I bade him good-evening with, while I gave him
my hand and led the way into the parlor.

The twenty-four hours that had elapsed since I saw him there before had
estranged him in a way that I find it rather hard to describe. He had
shrunk from the approach to equality in which we had parted, and there
was a sort of consciousness of disgrace in his look, such as might have
shown itself if he had passed the time in a low debauch. But undoubtedly
he had done nothing of the kind, and this effect in him was from a
purely moral cause. He sat down on the edge of a chair, instead of
leaning back, as he had done the night before.

"Well, Tedham," I began, "we have seen your sister-in-law, and I may as
well tell you at once that, so far as she is concerned, there will be
nothing in the way of your meeting your daughter. The Haskeths are
living at their old place in Somerville, and your daughter will be with
them there to-morrow night--just at this moment she is away--and you can
find her there, then, if you wish."

Tedham kept those deep eye-hollows of his bent upon me, and listened
with a passivity which did not end when I ceased to speak. I had said
all that my wife had permitted me to say in her charge to me, and the
incident ought to have been closed, as far as we were concerned. But
Tedham's not speaking threw me off my guard. I could not let the matter
end so bluntly, and I added, in the same spirit one makes a scrawl at
the bottom of a page, "Of course, it's for you to decide whether you
will or not."

"What do you mean?" asked Tedham, feebly, but as if he were physically
laying hold of me for help.

"Why, I mean--I mean--my dear fellow, you know what I mean! Whether you
had better do it." This was the very thing I had not intended to do, for
I saw how wise my wife's plan was, and how we really had nothing more to
do with the matter, after having satisfied the utmost demands of
humanity.

"You think I had better not," said Tedham.

"No," I said, but I felt that I was saying it too late, "I don't think
anything about it."

"I have been thinking about it, too," said Tedham, as if I had confessed
and not denied having an opinion in the matter. "I have been thinking
about it ever since I saw you last night, and I don't believe I have
slept, for thinking of it. I know how you and Mrs. March feel about it,
and I have tried to see it from your