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 between the Cullens and herself. Lucas had not the slightest fear of her failing to keep his confidence; it was solely the insult of her calmly spoken resignation and refusal to discuss reasons for it or conditions of reëmployment. "The insult!" Lucas afterwards repeated hotly to himself.

Did his own son Luke—and also John, who had returned to the city—treat him a little differently since Kincheloe's death? Or did Lucas only imagine it? Probably, Lucas argued with himself, it was because he was overstaying his intended visit; but he did not want to return to St. Florentin; nor did Jaccard wish him to leave Chicago now. So Lucas proposed that Sarah and he go to a hotel, a proposition which young Luke and Myra and all the rest vigorously opposed. Nevertheless Lucas contrarily moved his wife and himself to one of the new hotels near Lincoln Park.

This left him more time to himself to read and to think; and what he continued to read mostly were those irritating, self-undermining books which he had bought at McClurg's; and his meditations dwelt on the same topics which also became a source of discussion between Jaccard and himself.