ad passed from her to Amzi and from him to
Kirkwood. The consideration had been adequate; the county records told
the story plainly. There was, of course, no reason why Lois should
continue to own a house for which she had no use; but there was less
reason why her former husband should acquire the property merely, as it
seemed, from motives of sentiment. Every weed in the garden--and the
crop was abundant--called attention to the blot on the Montgomery
'scutcheon. And if Kirkwood was silly enough to cling to the old home,
while living in a rented house in a less agreeable neighborhood, there
was no reason why he should refuse to lease it and devote the income to
Phil's upbringing.

It was not a cheerful item of the urban landscape and the sorrow of
Amzi's sisters that it should remain dolefully at their own thresholds
was pardonable. The moon looked down at it soberly through dispersing
clouds as though grieved by its disrepair. The venerable forest trees
that gave distinction to the "old Montgomery place" had shaken their
leaves upon this particular part and parcel of the elder Amzi's acres,
and piled them upon the veranda steps. The gate, fastened to the post by
a chain and padlock, sagged badly, and bulged upon the public walk.

Amzi stopped and pushed it back, causing the chain to rattle dolorously.
Kirkwood watched him indifferently. Phil lent her uncle a hand. Amzi,
panting from his efforts, ejaculated: "Thunder!" and a moment later they
bade each other good-night under the gas lamp at his own gate.

CHAPTER IV

A TRANSACTION IN APPLES

Phil was not visible the next morning when at seven o'clock Kirkwood
glanced about the house for her. She had indulged herself in the matter
of rising since the high-school bell no longer regulated her habits, and
her father had hardly expected to see her. There was no morning
newspaper to read--he took a Chicago daily at his office--and he opened
the windows and doors to admit the air. Domestic affairs interested
Thomas Kirkwood little. During the years in which Phil was passed from
aunt to aunt he had lived at the Morton House, and after establishing
the new home that he might have her with him, one or another of the
aunts had supervised his household, and at times, to his discomfiture,
all had taken a hand at it.

This rented cottage where the Kirkwoods lived was in the least
fashionable part of Main Street, beyond the commercial district and near
the railroad. Tr