up under it; she was
poor uncle's very life, and when she went out of it he wilted like a
delicate flower. I've ordered his monument; it will be the most
beautiful thing in the State. He had plans for a church to give to the
people in the neighborhood, and I'm going to see to the building of it.
I'll have to cut household expenses in a good many ways to do it, but
the edifice must be built. I get out the plans every day, but I shed
tears so that I can't hardly see the lines. This brings up what I wanted
to ask you, Alfred."

"To ask me?" Henley echoed, and he moved his feet and hands uneasily.

"Yes. I'll need the aid of a man over here, and, well, really, it would
look better for you to be here than over there. Jim Cahews managed for
you while you was away in Texas, and--"

"I know what you mean," Henley stammered. "I understand precisely, but
the truth is, right now, at least, I've got so many deals of one sort
and another on hand that--"

"I see. I might have known it." The woman sighed, avoided his helpless
stare, and tossed her head resentfully. "You never loved him as I do,
and you put your own selfish and worldly aims first." She rose stiffly
and stalked across the room to the silken bell-pull and gently drew it
downward. "You'll want to go to your room before supper. Lucy will show
you where it is. I hope everything will be in order up there. I have had
so much to worry me that I couldn't see about it myself. I'll meet you
at supper. I'm going down to the barn to see if they are taking care of
Jack--uncle's favorite horse. I haven't let anybody ride him since he
died. I don't know who would be worthy of it. Never mind, Alfred, this
is the second request I've made of you lately. I doubt if I'll ever make
another."

An impatient retort was rising in the man's breast, and it might have
found an outlet if she had not left him at that instant to give an order
to the girl who had come in response to her ring.

CHAPTER XXXVII

It was the second night after Henley's return to Chester. He was alone
at the farm-house. It was a desolate place now, despite his constant
self-assurance that he was accustomed, in his travels, to depend upon
his own resources for company and entertainment, and would now find
nothing lacking. He was in the kitchen cooking his supper in the same
crude way he had cooked his meals in the Western mining-camps where he
had once prospected.

He took down a rasher of bacon from a hook