crawled out again and went through the familiar motions in the dark.




VIII

Dick rose the next morning with a sense of lightness and content
that sent him singing into his shower. In the old stable which
now housed both Nettie and the little car Mike was washing them
both with indiscriminate wavings of the hose nozzle, his old pipe
clutched in his teeth. From below there came up the odors of
frying sausages and of strong hot coffee.

The world was a good place. A fine old place. It had work and
play and love. It had office hours and visits and the golf links,
and it had soft feminine eyes and small tender figures to be always
cared for and looked after.

She liked him. She did not think he was old. She thought his
profession was the finest in the world. She had wondered if he
would have time to come and see her, some day. Time! He considered
very seriously, as he shaved before the slightly distorted mirror
in the bathroom, whether it would be too soon to run in that
afternoon, just to see if she was tired, or had caught cold or
anything? Perhaps to-morrow would look better. No, hang it all,
to-day was to-day.

On his way from the bathroom to his bedroom he leaned over the
staircase.