the knees, was past remedy; his hands were black, and one was
bleeding; his whole little body was throbbing with excitement,
anger, and violent exercise. As I looked at him quietly the defiant
expression in his eyes began to give place to tears.

"There is no use in punishing him now," said my wife. "Please leave
him to me and find the others."

"I wasn't going to punish him," I said.

"What are you going to do? What makes you look at him so?"

"He's a problem I can't solve--with the given conditions."

"O Robert, you drive me half wild. If the house was on fire you'd
stop to follow out some train of thought about it all. I'm tired to
death. Do bring the children home. When we've put them to bed you
can figure on your problem, and I can sit down."

As I went up to the Daggetts' flat I was dimly conscious of another
problem. My wife was growing fretful and nervous. Our rooms would
not have satisfied a Dutch housewife, but if "order is heaven's
first law" a little of Paradise was in them as compared to the
Daggetts' apartments. "Yes," I was told, in response to my
inquiries; "Winnie is in the bed-room with Melissy."

The door was locked, and after some hesitation the girls opened it.
As we were going downstairs I caught a glimpse of a newspaper in my
girl's pocket. She gave it to me reluctantly, and said "Melissy" had
lent it to her. I told her to help her mother prepare supper while I