ou left the parent nest!"

"Yes," answered Sherwood quietly. Then he added casually--too casually
to be convincing to her sharp intuitions--"How is Lucy?"

"She is--oh, pretty well."

"Er--happy, and all that sort of thing?"

"As happy as she could expect to be. She married Simon Varr, you know."

"Yes--I know." He disregarded her sarcastic implication. "I hear
you've been back only a short time yourself. Staying at Lucy's?"

"Staying at Simon's!" corrected Miss Ocky grimly. "I suppose you know
that's his beloved tannery a-fire down there?"

"So they tell me. I saw the flames from my house and thought I'd
stroll down for the show."

"I was just turning in myself when I heard the siren," said Miss Ocky.
"Rather pretty effect, don't you think?"

"Beautiful," agreed Sherwood. He surveyed the scene of the fire
critically. "Beautiful--only I'm afraid they are going to save most of
the buildings."

"Eh? What's that?" cried Miss Ocky sharply. Then she gave a chuckle.
"Did you say 'afraid'?"

"Are you a friend of Simon's?"

"I detest the creature," she answered promptly. "And you?"

"It would afford me great pleasure," stated Sherwood calmly, "if that
were Simon's funeral pyre."

Miss Ocky pursed her lips in a soft, almost inaudible whistle. She was
thinking back to the expression on her brother-in-law's face when this
man's name was mentioned. Simon had been afraid! And here was Leslie
Sherwood expressing, not fear, but--but what?

"Any one would think you hated the poor man," she suggested at length.

"That," said Mr. Sherwood, "exactly expresses my feeling toward him."

"But--but, Leslie--" Miss Ocky was groping for the truth back of all
this--"I don't understand! Why do you hate a man you haven't even seen
for over twenty years?"

"Some hates have very lasting qualities, Ocky. They endure for ever
and a day."

"Then--whatever it was--happened before you left here?"

"Yes. Simon came between me and something that I wanted--and did it in
a way that made a mortal enemy of me. Sounds theatrical, doesn't it?
But it's true. He contrived at the same time to cause the trouble
between me and my father that has kept me from returning to Hambleton
until now, when the old gentleman has ended with worldly cares."

"I wish you'd tell me the whole story in words of one syllable," begged
Miss Ocky. "It's not that I'm just curious. I'm trying to learn all
that I can about Simon. He interests