ulders, he bore the burden of his father's
disgrace. Through their kinship, the cowardice and the shirking became
a part of his heritage.

There was nothing to be done, for he could not raise his hand in anger
against his own father. They must continue to live together, and keep
an unbroken front to the world, even though the bond between them had
come to be the merest pretence. He despised his father, but no one
must ever know it--not even the father whom he despised. Ralph did not
guess that his father had read his face.

He saw, now, why Miss Evelina had refused to tell him the man's name,
and he honoured her for her reticence. He perceived, too, the hideous
temptation with which she was grappling when she begged him to leave
her. She had feared that she would tell him, and he must never let her
suspect that he knew.

The mighty, unseen forces that lie beneath our daily living were
surging through Ralph's troubled soul. Love, hatred, shame, remorse,
anger, despair--the words are but symbols of things that work
devastation within.

Behold a man, in all outward seeming a gentleman. Observe his
courtesy, refinement, and consideration, his perfect self-control.
Note his mastery of the lower nature, and see the mind in complete
triumph over the beast. Remark his education, the luxury of his
surroundings, and the fine quality of his thought. Wonder at the high
levels whereon his life is laid, and marvel at the perfect adjustment
between him and his circumstances. Subject this man to the onslaught
of some vast, cyclonic passion, and see the barriers crumble, then
fall. See all the artifice of civilisation swept away at one fell
stroke, and behold your gentleman, transformed in an instant into a
beast, with all a beast's primeval qualities.

Under stress like this Ralph was fighting to regain his self mastery.
He knew that he must force himself to sit opposite his father at the
table, and exchange the daily, commonplace talk. No one must ever
suspect that anything was amiss--it is this demand of Society which
keeps the structure in place and draws the line between civilisation
and barbarism. He knew that he never again could look his father
straight in the face, that he must always avoid his eyes. It would be
hard at first, but Ralph had never given up anything simply because it
was difficult.

It was a relief to find that he was downstairs first. Hearing his
father's step upon the stair, he thought,