till May. She is going to Europe for the summer."

"To Europe?" gasped Harvey, feeling the floor sink under his feet.

He did not think to inquire what was to become of him in the new
arrangement.

"She needs a sea voyage, travel--a long vacation, in fact. It is fully
decided. So, you see, the convent is the place for Phoebe."

"But where do I come in?" cried the unhappy father. "Does she think
for a minute that I will put my child in a convent so that we may be
free to go to Europe and do things like that? No, sir! Dammit, I won't
go to Europe and leave Phoebe in a----"

Fairfax was getting tired of the argument. Moreover, he was
uncomfortable and decidedly impatient to have it over with. He cut in
rather harshly on the other's lamentations.

"If you think she's going to take you to Europe, you're very much
mistaken. Why, man, have you no pride? Can't you understand what a
damned useless bit of dead weight you are, hanging to her neck?"

It was out at last. Harvey sat there staring at him, very still; such
a pathetic figure that it seemed like rank cowardice to strike again.
And yet Fairfax, now that he had begun, was eager to go on striking
this helpless, inoffensive creature with all the frenzy of the brutal
victor who stamps out the life of his vanquished foe.

"She supports you. You haven't earned a dollar in four years. I have
it from her, and from others. It is commonly understood that you won't
work, you won't do a stroke toward supporting the child. You are a
leech, a barnacle, a--a--well, a loafer. If you had a drop of real
man's blood in you, you'd get out and earn enough to buy clothes for
yourself, at least, and the money for a hair cut or a shoe shine. She
has been too good to you, my little man. You can't blame her for
getting tired of it. The great wonder is that she has stood for it so
long."

Words struggled from Harvey's pallid lips.

"But she loves me," he said. "It's all understood between us. I gave
her the start in life. She will tell you so. I----"

"You never did a thing for her in your life," broke in the big man,
harshly. He was consumed by an ungovernable hatred for this little man
who was the husband of the woman he coveted.

"I've always wanted to get a job. She wouldn't let me," protested
Harvey, a red spot coming into each of his cheeks. "I don't want to
take the money she earns. I never have wanted to. But she says my
place is here at home, with Phoebe. Somebody's got to l