Red Peppers Patients | Page 4

at the
ceiling.
Coolidge made an exclamation of displeasure and got to his feet. "If
you don't care to take me seriously--" he began.
"I don't take any man seriously who I know cared as much for his wife
when he married her as you did for Miss Carrington--and whose wife
was as much in love with him as she was with you--when he comes to
me and talks about her having gone on a visit to her father. Visits are
good things; they make people appreciate each other."
"You don't--or won't--understand." Coolidge evidently strove hard to
keep himself quiet. "We have come to a definite understanding that we
can't--get on together. She's not coming back. And I don't want her to."
Burns lowered his gaze from the ceiling to his friend's face, and the
glance he now gave him was piercing. "Say that last again," he
demanded.
"I have some pride," replied the other haughtily, but his eyes would not
meet Burns's.
"So I see. Pride is a good thing. So is love. Tell me you don't love her
and I'll--No, don't tell me that. I don't want to hear you perjure yourself.
And I shouldn't believe you. You may as well own up"--his voice was
gentle now--"that you're suffering--and not only with hurt pride." There
was silence for a little. Then Burns began again, in a very low and quiet
tone: "Have you anything against her, Cooly?"
The man before him, who was still standing, turned upon him. "How
can you ask me such a question?" he said fiercely.

"It's a question that has to be asked, just to get it out of the way. Has
she anything against you?"
"For heaven's sake--no! You know us both."
"I thought I did. Diagnosis, you know, is a series of eliminations. And
now I can eliminate pretty nearly everything from this case except a
certain phrase you used a few minutes ago. I'm inclined to think it's the
cause of the trouble." Coolidge looked his inquiry. "'Having nothing
else to do.'"
Coolidge shook his head. "You're mistaken there. I have plenty to do."
"But nothing you couldn't be spared from--unless things have changed
since the days when we all envied you. You're still writing your name
on the backs of dividend drafts, I suppose?"
"Red, you are something of a brute," said Coolidge, biting his lip. But
he had taken the chair again.
"I know," admitted Red Pepper Burns. "I don't really mean to be, but
the only way I can find out the things I need to know is to ask straight
questions. I never could stand circumlocution. If you want that, Cooly;
if you want what are called 'tactful' methods, you'll have to go to some
other man. What I mean by asking you that one is to prove to you that
though you may have something to do, you have no job to work at. As
it happens you haven't even what most other rich men have, the trouble
of looking after your income--and as long as your father lives you won't
have it. I understand that; he won't let you. But there's a man with a
job--your father. And he likes it so well he won't share it with you. It
isn't the money he values, it's the job. And collecting books or curios or
coins can never be made to take the place of good, downright hard
work."
"That may be all true," acknowledged Coolidge, "but it has nothing to
do with my present trouble. My leisure was not what--" He paused, as
if he could not bear to discuss the subject of his marital unhappiness.

The telephone bell in the outer office rang sharply. An instant later
Miss Mathewson knocked, and gave a message to Burns. He read it,
nodded, said "Right away," and turned back to his friend.
"I have to leave you for a bit," he said. "Come in and meet my wife and
one of the kiddies. The other's away just now. I'll be back in time for
dinner. Meanwhile, we'll let the finish of this talk wait over for an hour
or two. I want to think about it."
He exchanged his white linen office-jacket for a street coat, splashing
about with soap and water just out of sight for a little while before he
did so, and reappeared looking as if he had washed away the fatigue of
his afternoon's work with the physical process. He led Gardner
Coolidge out of the offices into a wide separating hall, and the moment
the door closed behind him the visitor felt as if he had entered a
different world.
Could this part of the house, he thought, as Burns ushered him into the
living room on the other side of the hall and