an went on, "If Henrietta
only knew! She thinks the world of the youngster, you know--no one could
help that--but what if she knew? Paul's been mighty cautious. I often
laugh when I see them out together--him and the Boy--and think what a
sensation one could spring on the public by letting the cat out of the
bag. And the woman would suffer. Wouldn't she, just! Wouldn't they tear
her to pieces!"

"Yes, they would," said the Captain, "they certainly would. This is a
world of hypocrites, Charles, damned rotten hypocrites!"

"That's what it is, Grig! Not one of those same old hens who would have
said, 'Ought we to visit her?' and denounced the whole 'immoral' affair,
and all that sort of thing--not one of them, I say, but would--"

"Give her very soul to know what such a love means! O they would,
Charles--they would--every damned old cat of them, who would never get
an opportunity to play the questionable--no, not one in a thousand
years--if they searched for it forever!"

"Yet women are made so, Grigsby--they can't help it! Henrietta would
faint at the mere suggestion of accepting as a daughter-in-law a woman
with a past!"

And the old man sighed.

"I'd have given my eyes--yes, I would, Grig--to have seen that woman
just once! God! the man she made out of my boy! Of course it may have
been for the best that it turned out as it did, but--damn it all, Grig,
she was worth while! There's no dodging that!"

"Nobody wants to dodge it, Charles! She was over-sexed, perhaps--but
better that than undersexed--eh?"

* * * * *

But the exhilaration caused by the coming of his old friend gradually
wore itself away, and Sir Charles began to grow weaker. And at last the
end came. He had grown anxious to see the Boy again, and the young
fellow had returned and spent much time with the old man, who loved the
sound of his voice as it expressed his fresh, frank ideas.

But Sir Charles spent his last hours with his son.

"Paul," he said, in a last confidential whisper, touching upon the theme
that had never been mentioned between them before, "I
understand--everything--you know, and I'm proud of you--and him! I have
wanted to say something, or do something for you--often--often--to help
you--but it's the sort of thing a chap has to fight out for himself,
and I thought I'd better keep out of it! But I wanted you to
know--_now_--that I've known it all--all along--and been proud of
you--both!"

And t