ther and child are without other clue than that of
the mysterious filial and maternal tie to guide them; but his practical
sense rejected the idea. If he had been warned of Lois's unaccountable
return, he might have fortified Phil against her charms, but now it was
too late. Lois was Phil's mother. Shocked as he was by this termination
of his Christmas-Day happiness, his nature revolted against any attempt
to shatter Phil's new idol. The fact that Lois had sinned as much
against Phil as against himself was not something that he could urge now
that Phil had taken her stand. The thought of Lois brought before him
not only the unhappy past, but she seemed, with the cruelest
calculation, to have planted herself in the path of his happy future.

He was intent upon a situation that called for immediate handling. He
tried to bring the scattered dim stars in this new firmament to focus.
He might go to Nan and endeavor to minimize the effects of Lois's
return, urging that if she wished to spend the rest of her life in
Montgomery it was her affair, and had nothing whatever to do with her
former husband or the woman he meant to marry. This was a sane,
reasonable view of the situation; but its sanity and reasonableness were
not likely to impress Nan Bartlett. Such an event as the sudden return
of Lois would pass into local history as a great sensation. Jack
Holton's re-appearance only a few weeks earlier had caused his
fellow-townsmen to attack the old scandal with the avidity of a dog
unearthing a neglected bone; and the return of the woman in the case
could hardly fail to prove far more provocative of gossip. If Lois
persisted in remaining in Montgomery, it was wholly unlikely that Nan
would ever marry him; nor could he with any delicacy insist upon her
doing so. They might marry and move to Indianapolis, thereby escaping
the discomforts of the smaller town's criticism; and this was made
possible by his brightening prospects. At any rate, it was only fair to
go to Nan at once and lay the matter before her. Even now the news might
have reached her; news spreads quickly in the world's compact
Montgomerys.

Phil aroused herself as she heard him fumbling for his coat at the
hall-rack. She found a match and lighted the gas.

"Going out, daddy?" she asked in something like her usual tone.

He looked at her vaguely as he drew on his coat, as though trying to
understand what she had said.

"Well, you'll be back for supper. There'll