for years
been "poor-Loising" Lois, and Jack Holton's re-appearance had
strengthened their belief that she was in straitened circumstances, a
pensioner on Amzi; and they deplored any drain upon resources to which
they believed themselves or their children after them justly entitled.
They would be outraged to learn that the prodigal had reentered by the
front door of her father's house, followed by a wagonload of trunks,
presumably filled with fine raiment.

Amzi did not know what had brought her back, nor did he care, now that
he saw her across his table, enjoying tearlessly her fricassee chicken,
and sipping the claret he always produced for a guest. The penitential
husks which her sisters would have thought proper in the circumstances
were not for Lois. He could not imagine her, no matter how grievously
she might sin, as meekly repenting in sackcloth and ashes. He wondered
just what she meant to do now that she had come back; he wondered what
her sisters and the rest of Montgomery would do! The situation
interested him impersonally. It sufficed for the moment that she was
there, handsome, cheerful, amusing, for he had been seriously troubled
about her of late. He was aware that a lone woman, with her history, and
blessed or cursed with her undeniable charm, is beset by perils, and it
was a comfort to see her under his roof, with no visible traces of the
rust of time.

She smiled into his eyes and lifted her glass.

"To the old house, Amzi!"

He saw her lips quiver and her eyes fill. There was sincere feeling in
her voice, but the shadow upon her spirit was a fleeting one.

"I'm going to run up and change my shoes," she said as they left the
table, and in a few moments he heard the click of her heels as she came
down.

"This is much cozier," she remarked, resting her smart pumps on the
fender beside his worn leathern slippers. "Now tell me about the girls;
how do they get on?"

He sketched for her briefly the recent history of the family, replying
to her constant interruptions with the frankness she demanded. Waterman
she remembered; she had never seen Fosdick or Hastings. Amzi's
description of Hastings amused her, and she laughed gayly at her
brother's account of the former actor's efforts to lift the local
dramatic standard.

"So that's what Kate did, is it? Well, I suppose she has had some fun
spending her money on him. Alec Waterman was always an absurd person,
but from what you say I judge Josie has hel