ingular desire
to pay this tribute to the dead. The thing grew increasingly mystifying;
increasingly unorthodox and undependable, too. Moreover, the second
thought reproached him that, Carlisle being so greatly upset, however
unreasonably, he himself should have accompanied her homeward, in her
most need to go by her side. And thinking these things, the disturbed
young man had tumbled out of bed in the small hours, to make inquiries
regarding trains.

He was received at the House by his future mother-in-law, who was once
more the accredited intermediary. Canning was hot, sooty, and suffering
from want of sleep. There were cinders down the back of his neck. Mrs.
Heth had Moses prepare for him a long iced drink, with rime on the glass
and fragrant mint atop. And then, as the prize of her lifetime sat and
sipped, she seated herself beside him, her strong voice trembling....

All hope of discreet reticence was now ripped to shreds. What chance
remained of rescuing the name of Heth from the scandalous horrors of a
suicide lay all in arousing this stalwart man to the imminence of the
common peril. Mrs. Heth, somersaulting without hesitancy from last
night's caution, flooded the dark places with lurid light.

Canning listened with consternation and chagrin. His moral
sensibilities, indeed, received no particular shock, since Mrs. Heth's
narrative frankly disclaimed any wrong-doing on Carlisle's part, but
attributed the misunderstanding to the excited gossip at the time. And
by the same token, he was not unduly perturbed over the girl's
hysterical ideas of her present duty. What struck Canning most sharply,
indeed, since he was human, was the personal side of the matter: the
stark fact that important developments touching Carlisle's name and
happiness had been running along for some time, wholly without his
knowledge, but under the direct personal superintendency of another man,
this Mr. Somebody's unknown friend. So extraordinary a course of
behavior seemed to reveal a totally new side of his betrothed, hitherto
unsuspected. Canning would have been too saintly for this earth if he
had not learned of these proceedings with the deepest surprise
and vexation.

And yet--what of it? Of course there was some simple and natural
explanation, which she would give when she felt better able. Doubtless
she had been threatened; blackmailed perhaps. And meantime the light
thrown directly and indirectly on Carlisle's distraught mood touc