That evening, after the child was in bed and Minnie in the kitchen washing the dishes, he went out on the porch with his pipe and consecrated an hour to Horace. Recalled his unfailing kindness, his justice, his melancholy, saw, for an instant, and in a vague way, the tragedy of the man who is only a means of supplying others with money. Childless, friendless, the most exploited creature under the sun. He knew what a loss he had suffered! And still had that wretched feeling that the real pain was coming later, that now only his brain knew it, not yet his heart. He had a sudden vision of that tea with Horace and Frankie, something more vivid than a memory. It brought an awful, blinding realisation of his present solitude. His two friends gone, and he left alone with a stranger. Minnie _was_ a stranger. He couldn’t talk to her about Horace. “Poor old man!” he said, with a sigh for that kindly lost spirit. III Minnie was aware of something hostile in her husband’s attitude, and, with a very great effort, kept her opinions to herself. The hot weather held, and it wore her out. The child couldn’t sleep at night. Her difficulties grew mountainous, outrageous. Horace’s assistance had stopped and they heard nothing about his will. At last she was forced to attack. “Lionel,” she said, “I haven’t a penny. You’ll have to do something.” He was silent. “You know what those lawyers are,” she went on, “you have to keep after them. They _expect_ it.” But Lionel flatly refused even to make enquiries about the will. He would not run greedily after old Horace’s money. “It’s not decent,” he said, stiffly. “Oh, nonsense!” cried Minnie. “Do _think_ a little, instead of using those silly stock phrases. There’s the poor baby. She needs clothes dreadfully. You shouldn’t let your pride stand in the way....” “They’ll let us know at the proper time. Until they do, we can scrape along----” “We can’t! I’ve bills everywhere. People are getting nasty. It’s dreadfully humiliating for me.” “Sorry, but there’s nothing to be done,” he repeated, frigidly. “There is! You could just ask his lawyers to let you see the will----” “My dear girl, I am not going to go crawling after Horace’s money. It’s not decent. I absolutely will not!” He might have known what would happen after that, but he didn’t even suspect.... Minnie said she was obliged to go to the city, shopping. And as she never concerned herself except about domestic matters, Lionel believed her object to be entirely serious and legitimate, and agreed to stop at home with the baby while she was gone. He had forgotten she had said she had no money, and anyway, he had learned that that statement from Minnie was not to be believed. She always said that.