r was
himself. His weeks of separation from her, of enforced forgetfulness,
had taught him a lesson which he had been loath to learn. Rather than be
outside her world, rather than be upon the same footing as all the other
inhabitants of that world, he would gladly endure a strain like that of
the past summer, would accept the place where fate had put him, as the
one man who could make more tolerable her own life with her husband. It
was not a dignified position; yet, for her sake, he believed that he
could fill it in a way which would add dignity to the lives of them
both. At least, he would do the best that was in him. He took no account
of the possibility that, within an hour, he would be balked in his
efforts by certain uninfringible laws of hospitality.

"Moreover," Lorimer went on, still in that unwonted high, clear voice;
"le's drink to Arlt's mother an' sister, Frau Arlt an' Fraulein Katarina
Arlt."

The sudden angry color blazed up in Arlt's cheeks, and he straightened
in his chair. Then he caught Thayer's eye, and with an effort he
controlled himself. The instant's by-play had caused Thayer to lose the
next words of his host; but Lorimer's laugh was ringing out with such
infectious mirth that the guests were laughing with him, although with
obvious reluctance to show their merriment.

Lorimer babbled on discursively.

"I knew 'em well. They were having har' times to get on, an' Arlt here
could n' begin to carry the load. It was killing him, an' so Thayer an'
I--"

"Let the rest go, Lorimer," Thayer broke in hastily, for now two
appealing faces were looking to him for help. "We know all about it."

Lorimer turned to him with an air of grave rebuke.

"You know, Thayer, for you were there. But the res' do' know. How could
they? They were n' there." He paused long enough to empty the glass
before him. Then he braced one hand against the edge of the table and
raised the other, as if to add emphasis to his words. "I was there, an'
you were there, an' Arlt was there. Nobody else was there. If they had
been, they'd know 'bout it, to-night. Plucky fellow, Arlt, an' he
d'serves his success. If 't had n' been for you an' me, Thayer, Arlt
would have gone under, though. No wond' Frau Arlt calls me _Lieb Sohn_.
If it had n' been for me, she would n' have had any _sohn_ 't all. With
me, there's pair of us."

He delivered himself of this long speech with an air of portentous
gravity. Then he turned away from Thayer a