On the way downstairs Mrs. Scrimser laid her hand on his arm. "Is there anywhere that I can speak to you for a minute alone, Vanny?"

He pushed open the parlour door and found its desert spaces untenanted. Mrs. Scrimser seated herself on one of the antimacassared sofas and drew him down beside her. She looked at him tenderly, and before she spoke he knew what she was going to say. "You think Laura Lou looks sick?" he broke out. "She was a little excited at seeing you—I guess it sent her temperature up. But she's all right, really… ."

"Who looks after her when you're at the office?" his grandmother asked.

"Well—the hired girl goes up every now and then. And Mrs. Hubbard—that's our landlady—has been very nice to her … until just lately… ."

"Just lately?"

He reddened. "Well, I've been behindhand about paying—I suppose that's the reason."

"Vanny, you must take that child away from here."

He gave an impatient laugh. "Take her away? Where to? To begin with, she wouldn't go anywhere without me… ."

She looked at him gravely. "You must go with her then. Young eyes don't recognize sickness the way old ones do… . No, dear, I don't want to frighten you; she'll get well; she just wants nursing and feeding—and comforting, I guess. Isn't she fretting about you and your affairs? Maybe thinking she's a burden to you? Poor child—I thought so… . Well, Vanny, all that's got to stop. It must stop!" She stood up with sudden resolution. "I'll send for that 'Storecraft' man—I could see they were anxious to get me; he was fairly scared that I'd fall into the hands of another manager. I'll see him tonight, Vanny; I'll get a good big advance out of him… . Saidie Toler'll manage that for me … you'll see!"

She stood beaming on him with such ample reassurance that his resolution wavered. Wasn't she right, after all? What business was it of his if (in perfect good faith, he was sure) she chose to sell her hazy rhetoric to audiences more ignorant than herself? After all, it was probable that her teaching could do only good … why try it by standards of intellectual integrity that none of her hearers would think of applying? He was frightened by her tone in speaking of Laura Lou; he knew that, unless he could raise a little money at once, he and his wife could not stay on at Mrs. Hubbard's; and to his grandmother's question as to where he intended to take Laura Lou he could find no answer.

"See here, Vanny, don't you look so discouraged. You'll see, I'll pull it off in the big towns upstate. And then—"