Old Chester thought the one thing. No evasions of Dr. Lavendar's, no
miserable silence on the part of the disgraced father and the
infuriated brother, could banish that one thought. But nothing
definite was known. "Although," as everybody said to everybody else,
"of course, Dr. Lavendar knows the whole thing, and probably Willy King
does, too." If they did, they kept their knowledge to themselves. But
Dr. Lavendar went often to the Gordon house that winter. "They're
pretty lonely, those two men," he told Willy once--perhaps six months
afterwards.
"Would either of them have softened if the baby had lived, do you
think, sir?" William said. And Dr. Lavendar shook his head.
"Perhaps her father might. But Alex will never forgive her, I'm
afraid."
And Alex never did forgive her--not even when she died, as, happily,
she did six or seven years later. She died; and life closed over the
miserable little tragedy as water closes, rippling, over some poor,
broken thing flung into its depths.
"_Thank God!_" Alex said, when he heard she was gone.
"You may thank God for her," Dr. Lavendar said, turning upon him
sternly, "but ask mercy for yourself, because this door of opportunity
is shut upon you forever."
Dr. Lavendar had brought them the news. They did not ask how it had
come to him; it was enough to hear it. The two men, Mary's father and
brother, listened while he told them, briefly: "She died yesterday.
The funeral will be to-morrow, at twelve."
"Thank God!" Alex said, hoarsely, and lifted his hand and cursed the
man who had dishonored them.
And Dr. Lavendar turned upon him in solemn anger. "Your opportunity is
gone--so far as she is concerned. There yet remains, however, the
poor, foolish sinner whom she loved--"
"Damn him!" said Alex.
"_--and who loved her._"
Old Mr. Gordon dropped his face in his hands and groaned.
"Who loved her," Dr. Lavendar repeated.
"For that, at least, he cannot be indifferent to us, whatever he has
made us suffer."
Neither of his listeners spoke. It was growing dark in the long room,
walled to the ceiling with books and lighted only by a fire sputtering
in the grate. Mr. Gordon, sitting in his big, winged chair close to
the hearth, said, after a long pause: "You said--to-morrow, Edward?
Where?"
"In Mercer. I shall go up on the morning stage."
Again the silence fell. Alex got up and walked to the window and
looked out. "Why didn't you bring Danny in, Dr. Lavendar?" he said,
carelessly; "the little brute will freeze out there in your buggy.
I'll call him in." He turned to leave the room, and then stopped.
"Alexander, _sit down_," said Dr. Lavendar.
Alex sat down with involuntary quickness; then he threw his legs out in
front of him and thrust his hands down into his pockets. "Dr.
Lavendar, this is our affair. I'm obliged to you for your kind
intentions; but this is our affair. You've told your news, and we have
listened respectfully--if I should say gladly you might be shocked. So
I only say respectfully. But you have spoken; we have listened. That
is all there is to it. The thing is finished. The book is closed. I
say thank God! I don't know what my father says. If he takes my
advice, for I've been a good son to him; I never gave him any cause to
be ashamed;--if he takes my advice, he'll forget the whole affair.
That's what I mean to do. The book is closed. I shall never think of
it again." He got up and walked about with affectation of vast
indifference.
"Alex, you will probably never think of anything else," Dr. Lavendar
said, half pitifully; and then, sternly, again: "I can't make you
accept the opportunity that still is open to you; but I will point it
out to you: Come up to Mercer to-morrow with your father and me."
"Mercer!" the younger man cried out, furiously; "you mean to see her
buried? To dance on her grave and pull the man out and spit in his
face and--" He stopped, his face suddenly purpling, his light eyes
staring and rolling; then he stumbled and jerked himself together, and
lurched forward into a chair, breathing loudly. The two old men,
trembling with horror, ran to him. "Oh, Edward," John Gordon
said--"oh, Edward, why did you rouse him? He can't speak of it, he
can't think of it. Alex--there!--we'll say no more about it."
[Illustration: "LURCHED FORWARD INTO A CHAIR, BREATHING LOUDLY"]
Alex stared at them with glassy eyes, in silence; his father kept
bemoaning himself and imploring his old friend to say no more. "You
won't speak of it again, Edward? He goes out of his head with rage.
Promise me not to speak of it any more."
"No, John; no," Dr. Lavendar said, sadly; and as Alex's eyes cleared
into bewildered consciousness, the old minister stood a little aside
while the father helped the son to his feet and led him away. When he
came back, shuffling feebly down the long, darkening room, Dr. Lavendar
was still sitting by the fire. "He's quiet now; I--I think he's
ashamed. I hope so. But he won't come out of his room."
Dr. Lavendar nodded.
John Gordon spread his purple handkerchief over his white locks, with
shaking hands, and then sat down, tumbling back in his chair in a
forlorn heap. "Edward," he said, feebly, "tell me about it. It was on
Thursday? Had she been sick long?" Then, in a low voice, "She--didn't
lack for comforts?"
"No; I think not. The man was as tender with her as--as you might have
been. She was sick--I mean in bed--two weeks. She had been ailing for
a long time; you remember I spoke to you about it about a month ago.
And again last week."
"You--saw her?"
"Yes."
"More than once?"
"Oh, many times," Dr. Lavendar said, simply; "many times, of course."
John Gordon put out his hand; Dr. Lavendar shook it silently. Then
suddenly the old man broke out, in weak, complaining anger: "He
wouldn't let me write to her. I would have sent her some money. He
wouldn't hear of it. He was awful, Edward. I--I didn't dare."
Dr. Lavendar was silent. It had grown so dark that he could not see
the father's face. Suddenly, from behind the leafless trees at the
foot of the garden, a smouldering yellow glow of sunset broke across
the gloom of the room, and touched the purple cowl and the veined hands
covering the aged face. Dr. Lavendar sighed.
"What can I do, Edward? I can't go to-morrow. You see I can't."
"Yes, you can, John."
"He would die; he'd have another attack. His heart is bad, Edward."
"Oh, I'm afraid it is, I'm afraid it is. But John, you do your duty.
Never mind Alex's heart. That isn't your affair."
"Oh, I couldn't possibly go--not possibly," the father protested,
nervously.
The glow died out. The room grew dusk and then dark. Mr. Gordon got
up and reached to the mantel-shelf for a spill. "Mary used to make the
spills for me," he said, vaguely. "Now our Rachel does it, and she
doesn't half bend the end over." He lighted the spill, the little
flame flickering upon his poor old face peering out from under his
purple handkerchief. "Oh, Alex ought not to be so hard. I would go
with you to-morrow, Edward, but I can't, you know. I can't." Then,
with a shaking hand, he took off the ground-glass globe and lighted the
tall lamp that stood among a litter of papers on the library-table.
"You see how it is, Edward, don't you? I can't possibly go."
"You will be sorry if you don't, John."
"I'll be sorry anyhow," he burst out. "I'm always sorry. I've been
sorry all my life. My children are my sorrow."