? Where does he stand? Is this
woman really his wife?"

"Why, certainly," replied Mr. Tidwell. "His second marriage is no
marriage at all. The issue of such a marriage is illegitimate."

"That's just what I thought," commented Silas Tomlin. "But in the tale,
when the woman comes back, and puts in her claim, the judge flings her
case out of court."

"That was in England," Mr. Tidwell suggested.

"Or Scotland--I forget which," Silas Tomlin replied.

"Well, it isn't the law over here," Mr. Tidwell declared confidently.
They walked on a little way, when the lawyer suddenly turned to Silas
and said: "Mr. Tomlin, will you fetch that magazine in to-morrow? I want
to see the ground on which the woman's case was thrown out. It's
interesting, even if it is all fiction. Perhaps there was some
technicality."

"All right, Gus; I'll fetch it in to-morrow."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

_Silas Tomlin Finds Trouble_

When Silas Tomlin reached home, he found his son reading a book. No word
of salutation passed between them; Paul simply changed his position in
the chair, and Silas grunted. They had no confidences, and they seemed
to have nothing in common. As a matter of fact, however, Silas was very
fond of this son, proud of his appearance--the lad was as neat as a pin,
and fairly well-favoured,--and proud of his love for books. Unhappily,
Silas was never able to show his affection and his fair-haired son never
knew to his dying day how large a place he occupied in his father's
heart. Miserly Silas was with money, but his love for his son was
boundless. It destroyed or excluded every other sentiment or emotion
that was in conflict with it. His miserliness was for his son's sake,
and he never put away a dollar without a feeling of exultation; he
rejoiced in the fact that it would enable his son to live more
comfortably than his father had cared to live. Silas loved money, not
for its own sake, but for the sake of his son.

Mrs. Absalom would have laughed at such a statement. The social
structure of the Southern people, and the habits and traditions based
thereon, were of such a character that a great majority could not be
brought to believe that it was possible for parsimony to exist side by
side with any of the finer feelings. All the conditions and
circumstances, the ability to command leisure, the very climate itself,
promoted hospitality, generosity, open-handedness, and that fine spirit
of lavishness that seeks at any cost