His two tall boys I saw walking, with an amiable air of an habituated
understanding, around a billiard-table: "Can you beat them?" asked
Johnny proudly, as we passed the open window. His daughter circulated
confidently, as being almost a member in full and regular standing
herself. She seemed to know intimately any number of girls of her own
age, and even a few lads of seventeen or so--an advantage which our
Elsie, at that stage, never quite enjoyed, and which, due allowance made
for altered conditions, she was somewhat slow in gaining, later.

And about his wife? Well, the slate appeared to have been wiped--if
there really had been any definite marks upon it. Assuredly no smears
were left to show. Those of the younger generation of seven or eight
years before had used the time and arranged their futures, and the
still younger were pressing into their places--witness Johnny's own
brood. Gertrude McComas was now a self-assured though careful
matron--careful, I thought, not to ask too much of general society;
careful not to notice whether or no she received too little; careful,
most of all, not to let it appear that she _was_ careful. Perhaps it was
this care which made up a part of her general strain--and enabled her to
keep the lithe slenderness of her early figure.

We came back to town--the three of us--by train. Both of my Elsies were
thoughtful. Certainly we were playing a less brilliant part than the
family we had just left.

III

Meanwhile Albert pursued his studies. Though he had not so far to come
for a short vacation as the McComas young men, he spent the short
vacations at the school. He was at an awkward age, and Raymond, who
could see him with eyes not unduly clouded by affection, felt him to be
an unpromising cub. He was no adornment for any house, and no
satisfying companion for his father. So he passed the Easter week among
his teachers.

McComas too saw little of Albert. Those months with his mother were
usually worked off at some distant resort, which his stepfather was
often too busy to reach. Only once did he spend any of the allotted time
in McComas's house. This was a fortnight in that grandiose yet tawdry
fabric which had been sacrificed to business, and the occasion was an
illness in the family (not Albert's) which delayed the summer's outing.
McComas had accepted Albert with a large tolerance--at least he was not
annoyed. In fact, the boy's mother, however she may have harassed
Raymon