one evening thane and john were sitting together in one of their friendly silences, after supper, in the hotel lobby. thane cleared his throat.

“we’ve got a house, agnes ’n me,” he said. as there was no immediate comment he added: “i suppose you won’t be lonesome here alone. we don’t seem to visit much anyhow.”

john said it was very nice that they had a house;—he hoped they would be comfortable;—had they got everything they needed? he did not ask where the house was nor when they should move; and that was all they said about it.

no. john would not be lonesome. there was another word for it and he couldn’t remember what it was. although he saw her very seldom and then only at a distance, or when he passed her by chance in the hotel and they exchanged remote greetings, still, just living under the same roof with her had become a fact that deeply pertained to his existence. how much he had made of it unconsciously he did not realize until they were gone. thereafter as he turned in at the door he had always the desolate thought, “she is not here.” the place was empty. the rooms in which he had settled them were open to transients. he thought[235] of taking them for himself. on coming to do it he couldn’t. so he went elsewhere to live; he moved about; all places were empty.

from time to time thane hinted they would like to see him at the house. for some reason it seemed hard for him to come out with a direct invitation. however, he did at last.

“mrs. thane wants you up to supper,” he said, abruptly.

“thanks,” said john. “i’m ashamed of myself, tell her. i’ll stop in some evening.”

“you don’t know where it is,” said thane.

“that’s so. tell me how to find it.”

he wrote the directions down. still, it was most indefinite. some evening meant nothing at all. thane took him by the shoulders and regarded him with an expression that john avoided.

“and i want you to come,” he said, with slow emphasis on the first pronoun. “to-morrow.”

“all right,” said john. “meet me here at the office and i’ll go with you.”

it was a small house in a poor street, saved only by some large old trees. this surprised john, because thane’s income was enough to enable them to live in a very nice way, in moderate luxury even. he was still more surprised at the indecorative simplicity of its furnishings. thane’s nature was not parsimonious. he would not have stinted her. then why had they set up a household more in keeping with the status of a first rate puddler than with that of the vice-president of a flourishing nail trust, receiving in salary and dividends[236] more than twenty thousand a year? yet simple, even commonplace as everything was there was evidence of taste beyond thane’s. it must have been agnes who did it.

the first thing thane did on entering was to remove his collar and place it conspicuously on a table in the hallway by the foot of the staircase. “i forget that if i don’t see it going out,” he said. he unbuttoned the neck of his shirt, breathed and looked around with an air of satisfaction. “beats living at a hotel,” he said, opening the door into a little front sitting room for john to see. “the only thing i picked out,” he said, “was that big chair,” referring to an enormous structure of hickory and rush that filled all one corner of the room. “i’ll show you upstairs,” he added. coming to his own room he said: “this ain’t much to look at but that ain’t what it’s for. nobody sees it.” it was furnished with a simple cot, another hickory chair and a plain pine table. on the table was a brass lamp ready to be lighted; also, tobacco jar, matches, some technical books, mechanical drawings, pencils and paper.

at the other end of the hall thane stopped before a closed door. “she’s downstairs,” he said, at the same time knocking. he opened it softly, saying: “this is hers.” john got a glimpse of a little white bed, a white dressing table, some white chairs and two tiny pictures on the wall. a nun’s chamber could hardly have been more austere. he turned away. at the head of the staircase he looked back. thane had momentarily forgotten him and was still standing on the threshold of the little white room gazing into it. suddenly he[237] remembered john, closed the door gently and joined him.

“we’ll see about supper,” he said, leading the way through the sitting room into the next one, where the table was spread.

just then agnes appeared from the kitchen, bearing a tray. john had another surprise. her appearance made an unexpected contrast, so striking as to be almost theatrical. she wore a dainty apron. behind that was an elaborate toilette. she was exquisite, lovely. his first thought was that she had prepared this effect for him. yet he noticed that thane was not in the least surprised. he looked at her calmly, taking it all for granted, as if this had been her normal way of appearing. and so it was.

she shook hands with john. her manner was a little too cordial. “supper is quite ready,” she said. “please sit down.” she had served a joint of beef, mashed potatoes browned, some creamed vegetables. thane surveyed the food.

“nothing fried?” he said.

“shall i fry you something?” she asked. “it won’t take a minute.” her tone puzzled john. it expressed patience, readiness, even tractability, and yet submissiveness was in a subtle sense explicitly denied.

“i was only fooling,” thane replied. he whetted the carving knife carefully, as for a feat of precision, ran his thumb over the edge and applied it to the roast with an extremely deft effect.

“did you buy the house?” john asked. “it’s very charming.”

[238]

the note failed. he felt agnes looking at him.

“rent it,” said thane. “mrs. thane thought we’d better rent a while, maybe as we’d want another shape of house afterward. i want her to get a girl. she says there ain’t nothing for a girl to do.”

there was a silence. john did not know which side to take. he spoke highly of the food.

“mr. thane tells me you also have left the hotel,” she said.

“you get tired of it,” john answered absently. he was wondering what to make of the fact that they were mr. and mrs. to each other. twice he had been at the point of calling her agnes. he wished to get one full look at her and tried to surprise her eyes. she avoided him. then as if accepting a challenge she met his gaze steadily and utterly baffled his curiosity.

this time he could not be sure. a kind of wisdom was in her eyes that had never been there before. it might be only that she was on her guard, knowing the secret he was after.

conversation suffered many lapses. there seemed so little they could talk about. all the three of them had in common was reminiscent; and reminiscences were taboo. after supper they sat as far apart as three persons could in the small front room,—thane in his big chair, agnes in a stiff chair with some needlework over which her head was bent. her knees were crossed. the men were fascinated by the swift, delicate, tantalizing, puncturing rhythm of her needle, and in the margin of john’s vision was exactly all she meant to be seen of a small silk-clad ankle and slippered foot.

[239]

if it was as he suspected, how could thane endure it?

“we are very quiet,” she said, not looking up.

at that john began to talk about thane,—of his work and the genius showing in it, of the methods he had evolved, of the things he had invented, of his way with his men and what a brilliant future he had. agnes listened attentively, even tensely, as he could see, but made no comment; and thane, sinking lower and lower in his chair, became intolerably embarrassed. he stopped it by beginning of a sudden to talk about john. he knew much less about john’s work, however, than john knew about his. for that reason the narrative fell into generalities and was not convincing. agnes listened for a while and became restive. suddenly she put her needlework away and asked if anyone would like refreshments. john looked at the time. it was past eleven o’clock and he arose to go. thane would have detained him; agnes politely regretted that he had to go so soon. still, when she shook hands with him at the door her manner was spontaneous and warm and she pressed him to come again.

john walked about in the night without any mind at all. when his thoughts became coherent he found himself saying: “no. they are not man and wife. they are strangers. i wonder what goes on in that house. why does she do it?... why does she do it?”

why did she?