R OF SMALL CONSEQUENCE--AND CAME TO TAKE MY PLACE BESIDE OUR
POOR DEAR BROTHER IN HIS GREAT TRIAL. BUT ALL MY EFFORTS TO BRING HIM
TO A PROPER AND "CHRISTIAN" FRAME OF MIND HAVE BEEN FRUITLESS. I AM
INDEED ALARMED TO BE ALONE WITH HIM, AND I TREMBLE FOR THE CHILDREN,
FOR HE IS POSSESSED OF AN "INSANE" HATRED FOR THE SWEET LITTLE LOVES.
HE HAS LOCKED HIMSELF IN HIS ROOM, WILL SEE "NO ONE" NOR TOUCH A
"PARTICLE" OF NOURISHMENT. DO, MY DEAREST POLLY, COME AT ONCE ON
RECEIPT OF THIS, AND HELP ME IN THE "TRULY AWFUL" TASK THAT HAS BEEN
LAID UPON ME. AND PRAY FORGIVE ME FOR USING THIS PLAIN PAPER. I HAVE
HAD LITERALLY NO TIME TO ORDER MOURNING "OF ANY KIND."

So that was Sarah! With a click of the tongue Mahony tossed the letter
on the table, and made it clear to Polly that under no consideration
would he allow her to attempt the journey to town. Her relatives seemed
utterly to have forgotten her condition; if, indeed., they had ever
grasped the fact that she was expecting a child.

But Polly did not heed him. "Oh, poor, poor Emma! Oh, poor dear John!"
Her husband could only soothe her by promising to go to Sarah's
assistance himself, the following day.

They had been entirely in the dark about things. For John Turnham
thought proper to erect a jealous wall about his family life. What went
on behind it was nobody's business but his own. You felt yourself--were
meant to feel yourself--the alien, the outsider. And Mahony marvelled
once more at the wealth of love and sympathy his little Polly had kept
fresh for these two, who had wasted so few of their thoughts on her.

Polly dried her eyes; he packed his carpet-bag. He did this with a good
deal of pother, pulling open the wrong drawers, tumbling up their
contents and generally making havoc of his wife's arrangements. But the
sight of his clumsiness acted as a kind of tonic on Polly: she liked to
feel that he was dependent on her for his material comfort and
well-being.

They spoke of John's brief married life.

"He loved her like a pagan, my dear," said Mahony. "And if what your
sister Sarah writes is not exaggerated, he is bearing his punishment in
a truly pagan way."

"But you won't say that to him, dear Richard ... will you? You'll be
very gentle with him?" pleaded Polly anxiously.

"Indeed I shall, little woman. But one can't help thinking these
things, all the same. You know it is written: 'Thou shalt have none
other gods but Me.'"

"Yes, I know. But then this