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26Dead Men's Shoesa splendid little chap that one couldn'tpossibly grudge him the affection he won,quite as one accepted gratefully the devotionhe gave. Lloyd did not separatethe two children in his mind. As a matterof fact, he was much closer to the boy,who was old enough to be a jolly companionof sorts, than to tiny Agatha,whose speech and step were still halting.The children, together, made the situationjust possible.Lloyd got up at length and stretchedhimself, though his scowl did not relax.Edith would be coming in soon, he supposed,and must be met. She had thehabit of coming in as the evening wore on:an old habit from the days when separationwas painful to them both. Theevenings when they didn't go out andhadn't guests were the freest time theyhad together, and always had been. Thedifficulty now was that this intimate hourinvited, and almost provoked, discussion,which would be the least desirable thingin the world. He might pretend, ofcourse, to have work to do, but he wasunaccustomed to stoop to petty deceit.Edith knew, moreover, perfectly well thathis solid business could be managed in'business hours. She would be worried ifhe began to play with papers in the evening.No, he couldn't dispose of Edith'svisit without being rude. And wasn't it,after all, he asked himself with a suddenaccess of bitterness, even more Edith's librarythan his own?Mrs. Lloyd entered as he put the questionshe declared with conviction. "Somestant,to himself. She paused for an inthinghas been the matter for weeks, dar­framed in the tall doorway, with ling." Her voice took on a new color asan unconscious grace that few portraitpaintersthe term of endearment passed her lips.could have reproduced. She was " I'm afraid you've been working too hardslender and dark—altogether a lovely at those horrid mills. Shan't we pack upfigure if her husband had chanced to have and go South for a change?"an eye for her. In spite of her two children—andLloyd looked at her accusingly. Sheher two husbands—there was ought to have known that he couldn'ta look of clear-skinned virginal freshness drop his business like that, especiallyabout her that women seldom keep to now, when he had laid all his plans to developtheir thirtieth year. the mills to their fullest capacity.She did not stop topose at the door: merely hesitated for onemoment, then glided silently into theHe had explained everything to her as induty bound, and he got no considerationroom. Edith Lloyd's carriage was famousat all. "You can take the children andin the circle where she was known. go if you want to," he said sulkily. "IIt was envied—and sometimes badly couldn't possibly leave."copied—by the women, and mentioned Her forehead puckered. " Surely youwith respectful admiration by the men. can if you need to. Your health is more"Bored, my dear?" she asked, com­important than anything else."ing up to Lloyd and touching his armgently."No. Why?""I thought you looked so. Perhapswe ought to have gone to the Dawsons',after all." She laughed."Oh. bother the Dawsons ! We didn'twant to go; and you found a perfectlygood excuse, didn't you?""Yes. I said we thought their foodbad, their house worse, and their mannersworst of all."Lloyd smiled with his lips, though hiseyes did not clear. Edith was amusing,of course. When one was with her, it waseasy to forget the trouble between them."Polite but firm, I conclude," he said."As polite as was necessary, and no endfirm," she amended. "I took three poorexcuses and made one perfectly good oneout of them. But I'm sorry I was soclever if you really wished to go.""I didn't. I'd rather die of starvationthan dine with the Dawsons oftener thanonce in six months.""But you are bored." Edith Lloydclasped her hands behind her and confrontedher husband solemnly."No, I'm not." He clung obstinatelyto the assertion, though he wondered thewhile whether it was good tactics. Perhapsit would have been wiser to admitboredom at once to save discussion.Edith seemed singularly assertive tonight."Something or other is the matter,"