"Everything. Now let me tell you something. In a paper of this sort you must take a text, and with sophistry draw your deductions. You must never be clear. In the opinion of the world involution is depth. It takes a simple book a hundred years to become a cla.s.sic. The writer has starved to death. He sleeps under marble. And who is it that is lost out there among the briars? The man who wrote the pampered fad. Yes, sir; let contemporaneous man seek to untangle your skein and you flatter him.
Now, listen."
He read his paper, making alterations from time to time, marking out small words and writing in larger ones; and when he was done he looked at his visitor with a smile.
"It catches me," said Milford. "I don"t know anything about it, but I"m caught all the same. Have you read it to the ladies?"
"What!" gasped the Professor. "Read it to them? They would scoff at me, not because they would catch its pretentious weakness, but because I wrote it--because I am a failure. And now, sir, do you know I begin to fall down, as the idiomatics would have it? Yes, sir, I am weakening."
"How so?"
"Why, I"ve hardly got the nerve to take it to that woman. She hasn"t said so, but I know she wants it. When do you expect to see her again?"
"I don"t know."
"Now let me see. Would you mind taking this thing along and handing it to her the next time you see her? It would be one of the greatest favors you could do me. You can explain; I"ll trust you for that. It is my only recourse; my hope has been built on it, and if I fail I swear I--but I must not fail. You remember I told you that I did something once to help out the amount, something that would cause you to hate me. I will tell you what it was. It was a mean trick--dastardly--but I had to do it. A dog came to my house, a handsome dog with a bra.s.s collar. And what did I do? I sneaked that dog off and sold him for six dollars. Now you"ll hate me."
"Give me the paper," said Milford, reaching for it. "Don"t say another word. Give it to me. I don"t know you very well as knowing men goes, but you are kind to me, and I want to put my arm around you. I said down there that money was everything. But it isn"t. There"s something better--to find a kinsman in the wilderness. She shall take this thing.
She"s got to. If she doesn"t, I"ll take it to her husband." He put his arm about the Professor. Tears streamed from the old man"s eyes. "There, it"s all right. I"ll go over there now. If she won"t have it, I"ll take the train for town. I"m going now."
"Wait a moment," said the Professor, wiping his eyes. "I must not go down this way. Let me recover myself. You have touched my heart, and, poor withered thing, it is fluttering. Just a moment. Now we"ll go."
He led the way down the stairs. "I wish you could stay longer," he said cheerily, "but you know your own affairs. My dear, Mr. Milford is going.
We hope to have the pleasure of seeing you again soon. Our latch-string is out. Katherine, shake hands with Mr. Milford. I will light him out."
He stood on the veranda holding the lamp. "It is a dark night, and I wish we had a lantern. But the road is straight to your house.
Good-night, and G.o.d bless you."
"They have struck up a warm friendship," said the girl.
"Astonishing," her mother replied.
The Professor put the lamp on the mantel-piece. "Is he your lost brother?" his wife asked.
"He is more than that," the Professor answered, sinking into a chair.
"He is a man."
CHAPTER XII.
THE OLD SOFA.
Early the next morning, the Professor hastened from the dining-room to answer a rap at his door. And there stood Milford with a roll of bank notes in his hand.
"Ha, you"ve got it; I see you have. Let me shut the door. They must not hear. Was there ever such luck? Yes, let me take it, the money. Is it all here? Yes, down to the forty cents." He stuffed the notes into his pocket. He held up his hand to enjoin caution. "They would rather have a new settee than an a.s.surance of protection against want in the future.
They live from sun to sun. I live for them, but my mind is fixed on the time to come. I don"t know how to thank you. You are a man of nerve. And that woman! She is glorious. What did she say?"
"Oh, nothing much."
"Didn"t she agree that it was the very thing for the Doctor? Didn"t she acknowledge that it would spread the news of his high standing as a physician and a thinker?"
"Yes, she said it would do him a great deal of good abroad."
"A woman in a million. Did the abstruse parts seem to impress her?"
"Yes, she caught all the kinks."
"The Socrates of her s.e.x. Did she say that she would send it off at once?"
"By the first train. She was particular to ask if you had let any one else into the secret. She"s sensitive--and as I was about to go, she asked me not to refer to the matter again, and she hoped that you wouldn"t. I don"t think she can bear to be thanked. So I promised that neither of us would speak of the transaction, even to her."
"Delicate soul! And you did well to promise. My boy, if sincere thanks are winged things that fly to heaven, there is now a flight of grat.i.tude to the sky. Won"t you come in?"
"No, I"ve just had breakfast and must go to work."
"Well, I hope to see you again before long. And, by the way, I wish to tell you that my wife and daughter were charmed with your visit. They are dear to me, but they do not understand. Pardon me, I am detaining you."
For more than a week the Professor had drooped under anxiety, but now he walked high of head. When he entered the dining-room his wife asked who had called. He answered that it was some one who wanted directions to Mrs. Stuvic"s. Lying might at one time have been a luxury with him, but now it was a necessity. She rarely expected the truth from him. It took him longer to tell a lie, and he was fond of talking. And besides, a failure is under no obligations to tell the truth.
"It took you quite a while to give him directions."
"Yes, it is a roundabout way."
"But you seem to have quite a knack for finding it yourself--to be presented to remarkable women."
"My knack for finding remarkable women began in my earlier years."
"Indeed! And you have been keeping yourself well in practice ever since."
"Constant rehearsal with a former discovery keeps me from growing rusty."
"Well, I don"t care, but there"s one thing certain! When you come home to-night you"ll find that I have thrown that old sofa out into the back yard."
"It"s a dreadful thing, pa," said Miss Katherine. "It"s a disgrace."
"I know it, but we shall have a new one pretty soon."
"I"ve heard that for years," said his wife. "Why don"t you let that old life insurance go? Gracious alive, it"s nonsense to deny yourself everything."
"It"s worse than that," the girl spoke up; "it"s almost a crime. We don"t want you to fret your life out for us. If we are to have anything we want you to share it. You haven"t seen anything but worry since you took out the policy. Let it drop. The money you"d have to give for the next payment would make us happy. We could get so many nice things with it, and wouldn"t feel ashamed every time a visitor comes into the house.
Do, pa." She put her hand on his arm and looked at him appealingly.
He shook his head. "A crime, you say. Then let us acknowledge it a crime. But let us also acknowledge that it is not so dark a crime as it is for a man to die and leave his family in distress. Look at Norwood; look at Bracken. The neighbors had to contribute."
"But you aren"t going to die yet a while," said his wife. "You are in good health. Well, there"s no two ways about it. I"m going to throw that old sofa out into the yard. I"ve stood it as long as I can. It"s the first thing a stranger sees when he comes into the house."