Novel Notes | Page 9

again. I returned home from business one evening to
find him waiting for me in the hall. The moment I saw him I knew that
my worst fears had fallen short of the truth. I motioned him to follow
me to my study. He did so, and seated himself in the identical chair on
which he had sat three years ago. The change in him was remarkable;
he looked old and careworn. His manner was that of resigned
hopelessness.
"We remained for a while without speaking, he twirling his hat as at
our first interview, I making a show of arranging papers on my desk. At
length, feeling that anything would be more bearable than this silence, I
turned to him.
"'Things have not been going well with you, I'm afraid, Josiah?' I said.
"'No, sir,' he replied quietly; 'I can't say as they have, altogether. That
Hannah of yours has turned out a bit of a teaser.'
"There was no touch of reproach in his tones. He simply stated a
melancholy fact.
"'But she is a good wife to you in other ways,' I urged. 'She has her
faults, of course. We all have. But she is energetic. Come now, you will
admit she's energetic.'
"I owed it to myself to find some good in Hannah, and this was the only
thing I could think of at that moment.
"'Oh yes, she's that,' he assented. 'A little too much so for our sized
house, I sometimes think.'
"'You see,' he went on, 'she's a bit cornery in her temper, Hannah is;
and then her mother's a bit trying, at times.'

"'Her mother!' I exclaimed, 'but what's she got to do with you?'
"'Well, you see, sir,' he answered, 'she's living with us now--ever since
the old man went off.'
"'Hannah's father! Is he dead, then?'
"'Well, not exactly, sir,' he replied. 'He ran off about a twelvemonth ago
with one of the young women who used to teach in the Sunday School,
and joined the Mormons. It came as a great surprise to every one.'
"I groaned. 'And his business,' I inquired--'the timber business, who
carries that on?'
"'Oh, that!' answered Josiah. 'Oh, that had to be sold to pay his
debts--leastways, to go towards 'em.'
"I remarked what a terrible thing it was for his family. I supposed the
home was broken up, and they were all scattered.
"'No, sir,' he replied simply, 'they ain't scattered much. They're all
living with us.'
"'But there,' he continued, seeing the look upon my face; 'of course, all
this has nothing to do with you sir. You've got troubles of your own, I
daresay, sir. I didn't come here to worry you with mine. That would be
a poor return for all your kindness to me.'
"'What has become of Julia?' I asked. I did not feel I wanted to question
him any more about his own affairs.
"A smile broke the settled melancholy of his features. 'Ah,' he said, in a
more cheerful tone than he had hitherto employed, 'it does one good to
think about her, it does. She's married to a friend of mine now, young
Sam Jessop. I slips out and gives 'em a call now and then, when
Hannah ain't round. Lord, it's like getting a glimpse of heaven to look
into their little home. He often chaffs me about it, Sam does. "Well,
you was a sawny-headed chunk, Josiah, you was," he often says to me.

We're old chums, you know, sir, Sam and me, so he don't mind joking a
bit like.'
"Then the smile died away, and he added with a sigh, 'Yes, I've often
thought since, sir, how jolly it would have been if you could have seen
your way to making it Juliana.'
"I felt I must get him back to Hannah at any cost. I said, 'I suppose you
and your wife are still living in the old place?'
"'Yes,' he replied, 'if you can call it living. It's a hard struggle with so
many of us.'
"He said he did not know how he should have managed if it had not
been for the help of Julia's father. He said the captain had behaved
more like an angel than anything else he knew of.
"'I don't say as he's one of your clever sort, you know, sir,' he explained.
'Not the man as one would go to for advice, like one would to you, sir;
but he's a good sort for all that.'
"'And that reminds me, sir,' he went on, 'of what I've come here about.
You'll think it very bold of me to ask, sir, but--'
"I interrupted him. 'Josiah,' I said, 'I admit that I am much to blame for
what has come upon you. You asked me