talked away by religion nor denied by philosophy. It had its
place in her mind not with the shadow, but with the substance of things.
It was the one sinister force which had always dominated her, even when
it was absent, by the sheer terror it aroused in her thoughts.

"Let me see," she said chokingly. "No, I can't read it--tell me."

"It only says that the play was a failure--nobody understood it, and a
great many people said it was--oh, Virginia--_immoral!_--There's
something about its being foreign and an attack on American ideals--and
then they add that the author refused to be interviewed and they
understood that he was ill in his room at the Bertram."

The charge of immorality, which would have crushed Virginia at another
time, and which, even in the intense excitement of the moment, had been
an added stab to Mrs. Pendleton, was brushed aside as if it were the
pestiferous attack of an insect.

"I am going to him now--at once--when does the train leave, mother?"

"But, Jinny, how can you? You have never been to New York. You wouldn't
know where to go."

"But he is ill. Nothing on earth is going to keep me away from him. Will
you please wipe Harry's feet while I try to get on my clothes?"

"But, Jinny, the children?"

"You and Marthy must look after the children. Of course I can't take
them with me. Oh, Harry, won't you please hush and let poor mamma dress?
She is almost distracted."

Something--a secret force of character which even her mother had not
suspected that she possessed--had arisen in an instant and dominated the
situation. She was no longer the gentle and doting mother of a minute
ago, but a creature of a fixed purpose and an iron resolution. Even her
face appeared to lose its soft contour and hardened until Mrs. Pendleton
grew almost frightened. Never had she imagined that Virginia could look
like this.

"I am sure there is some mistake about it. Don't take it so terribly to
heart, Jinny," she pleaded, while she knelt down, cowed and obedient, to
wipe Harry's feet.

Virginia, who had already torn off her house dress, and was hurriedly
buttoning the navy blue waist in which she had travelled, looked at her
calmly without pausing for an instant in her task.

"Will you bind up his foot with some arnica?" she asked. "There's an
old handkerchief in my work basket. I want you and father to come here
and stay until I get back. It will be less trouble than moving all their
things over to the rect