. "And yet," he murmured, "you say
it isn't true."

She did not contradict him this time. And as he turned he heard behind
him the closing of the door.

BOOK IV

THE MAN HIMSELF

CHAPTER LXII

After all, the wedding did not take place on the twenty-fifth; for on
the twentieth Keith was summoned to Ilford by a letter from his
stepmother. Mrs. Rickman said she thought he ought to know (as if
Keith were seeking to avoid the knowledge!) that his father had had a
slight paralytic seizure. He had recovered, but it had left him very
unsettled and depressed. He kept on for ever worrying to see Keith.
Mrs. Rickman hoped (not without a touch of asperity) that Keith would
lose no time in coming, as his father seemed so uneasy in his mind.

Very uneasy in his mind was Isaac, as upstairs in the big front
bedroom, (which from its excess of glass and mahogany bore a curious
resemblance to the front shop,) he lay, a strangely shrunken figure in
the great bed. His face, once so reticent and regular, was drawn on
one side, twisted into an oblique expression of abandonment and agony.

Keith was not prepared for the change; and he broke down completely as
the poor right hand (which Isaac _would_ use) opened and closed in a
vain effort to clasp his. But Isaac was intolerant of sympathy, and at
once rebuked all reference to his illness. Above the wreck of his
austere face, his eyes, blood-shot as they were and hooded under their
slack lids, defied you to notice any change in him.

"I sent for you," he said, "because I wanted to talk over a little
business." His utterance was thick and uncertain; the act of speech
showed the swollen tongue struggling in the distorted mouth.

"Oh, don't bother about business now, father," said Keith, trying hard
to steady his voice.

His father gave an irritable glance, as if he were repelling an
accusation of mortality, conveyed in the word "now."

"And why not now as well as any other time?"

Keith blew his nose hard and turned away.

"What's the matter with you? Do you suppose I'm ill?"

"Oh no, of course not."

"No. I'm just lying here to rest and get up my strength again; God
willing. But _in case_ anything should happen to me, Keith, I want you
to be clear as to how you stand."

"Oh, that's all right," said Keith cheerfully.

"It's not all right. It's not as I meant it to be. Between you and me,
my big house hasn't come to much. I think if you'd stayed in
it--well--we