sing. It left a little trail,
the pleased recollection of it and the puzzle of it, which remained
unsolved. And, in fact, waking happily in the morning is not usually
the result of a drive home from a funeral. No wonder the sequence evaded
Bibbs Sheridan!

His father had gone when he came down-stairs. "Went on down to 's
office, jes' same," Jackson informed him. "Came sat breakfas'-table, all
by 'mself; eat nothin'. George bring nice breakfas', but he di'n' eat
a thing. Yessuh, went on down-town, jes' same he yoosta do. Yessuh, I
reckon putty much ev'y-thing goin' go on same as it yoosta do."

It struck Bibbs that Jackson was right. The day passed as other days had
passed. Mrs. Sheridan and Edith were in black, and Mrs. Sheridan cried
a little, now and then, but no other external difference was to be
seen. Edith was quiet, but not noticeably depressed, and at lunch proved
herself able to argue with her mother upon the propriety of receiving
calls in the earliest stages of "mourning." Lunch was as usual--for Jim
and his father had always lunched down-town--and the afternoon was as
usual. Bibbs went for his drive, and his mother went with him, as she
sometimes did when the weather was pleasant. Altogether, the usualness
of things was rather startling to Bibbs.

During the drive Mrs. Sheridan talked fragmentarily of Jim's childhood.
"But you wouldn't remember about that," she said, after narrating an
episode. "You were too little. He was always a good boy, just like that.
And he'd save whatever papa gave him, and put it in the bank. I reckon
it'll just about kill your father to put somebody in his place as
president of the Realty Company, Bibbs. I know he can't move Roscoe
over; he told me last week he'd already put as much on Roscoe as any
one man could handle and not go crazy. Oh, it's a pity--" She stopped
to wipe her eyes. "It's a pity you didn't run more with Jim, Bibbs, and
kind o' pick up his ways. Think what it'd meant to papa now! You never
did run with either Roscoe or Jim any, even before you got sick. Of
course, you were younger; but it always DID seem queer--and you three
bein' brothers like that. I don't believe I ever saw you and Jim sit
down together for a good talk in my life."

"Mother, I've been away so long," Bibbs returned, gently. "And since I
came home I--"

"Oh, I ain't reproachin' you, Bibbs," she said. "Jim ain't been home
much of an evening since you got back--what with his work and callin'