her do penance on her knees till sunrise ... she's praying for you
... but the suspense might kill her ... no, I'll send word. As I was
saying, everything is as it was at four o'clock this afternoon."

He chattered for the lad's benefit, noting that at times Louis shivered
as with ague, and that his hands were cold. He has tasted calamity,
Arthur thought with resignation, and life will never be quite the same
thing again. In the comfortable room the marks of suffering became
painfully evident. Even joy failed to rouse his old self. Pale, wrinkled
like age, shrunken, almost lean, he presented a woful spectacle. Arthur
mixed a warm punch for him, and spread a substantial lunch.

"The sauce for this feast," said he, "is not appetite, but this fact:
that your troubles are over. Now eat."

Louis made a pretense of eating, and later, under the influence of the
punch, found a little appetite. By degrees his mind became clearer as
his body rested, the wrinkles began to disappear, his body seemed to
fill out while the comfort of the situation invaded him. Arthur, puffing
his cigar and describing his interview with Claire, looked so stanch and
solid, so sure of himself, so at ease with his neighbors, that one could
scarcely fail to catch his happy complaint.

"She has begun her descent into hell," he said placidly, "but since you
are with us still, I shall give her plenty of time to make it. What I am
surprised at is that you did not understand what my entrance meant. She
understood it. She thought Curran was due as her witness of the assault.
What surprises me still more is that you so completely forgot my advice:
no matter what the trouble and the shame, come straight to me. Here was
a grand chance to try it."

"I never thought of this kind of trouble," said Louis dully. "Anyway, I
got such a fright that I understood nothing rightly up to midnight. The
terrible feeling of public disgrace eat into me. I saw and heard people
crying over me as at a funeral, you know that hopeless crying. The road
ahead looked to be full of black clouds. I wanted to die. Then I wanted
to get away. When I found a ship they took me for a half-drunk sailor,
and hustled me into the forecastle in lively shape. When Curran found me
and hauled me out of the bunk, I had been asleep enjoying the awfullest
dreams. I took him for a trickster, who wanted to get me ashore and jail
me. I feel better. I think I can sleep now."

"Experience maybe has given yo