wheat coffee ... free....

With a little reluctance Dan sat down and ate.

"Hum! that was good; but look here, Buzzer" (that was the nickname he
had invented for me) you mustn't tell Mubby."

"Mubby?"

"That's what mother and I call my father."

"Of course I won't tell him ... and now we must go to a restaurant and
have something real to eat."

"I can't. I don't dare. But I'll sit and watch you eat."

I ordered a steak, and persuaded Dan, finally, to have one too.

"If it's not good for people to eat, why does it taste so good?" mooted
Dan meditatively....

"Now I'll be in for it," he added, as we walked out of the door and
started back to the Health Home.

"But your father need never know."

"At first I thought it might be all right to fool him just this once.
But I mustn't. I've promised him I'd never lie to him about what I ate,
and I must keep my word ... he'll whip me, perhaps."

"Does he whip you much?"

"Not very much ... only when I need it ... and then when I cry, he
stops--so it is never very hard!"

I laughed at the boy's frank philosophy....

"But daddy's so funny ... not at all like other daddies," wistfully.

* * * * *

I did not grow friendly enough with Mrs. Baxter even to call her by her
first name of Hildreth ... during that brief visit....

Hildreth Baxter was always moving about leisurely, gracefully, like some
strange, pretty animal. Not shy, just indifferent, as if processes of
thought were going on inside of her that made an inner world that
sufficed, to the exclusion of all exterior happenings.

She had a beautiful small head with heavy dark hair; large, brown,
thoughtful eyes ... a face so strong as to be handsome rather than
beautiful. She walked about in bloomers, languidly conscious that her
legs were graceful and lovely....

To her I was, at that time, merely one of her husband's visiting
friends....

* * * * *

After little Daniel had manfully squared himself with his conscience,
Penton did not whip him. He came to me.

"I did not punish my boy: because it was you, Johnnie, that tempted
him," and he flushed angrily. "I'm sure you didn't consider what you
were doing. If I thought you did it out of deliberation, I would never
speak to you again ... you must learn not to tamper with the ideals of
others, Johnnie."

I apologised. I spoke of my reverence and regard for him and his
greatness. I asked hi