Page:Steadfast Heart.djvu/340

 fear of Henry G. Woodhouse. This Angus noticed first on an evening when Henry G. drove up to the door of the cottage Angus had taken to house himself and his father. Titus, sitting in the window, saw the approach of his son’s employer, and trembling, he sprang to his feet and rushed from the house, not to return until a late hour of the night…. Twice after this similar unaccountable conduct puzzled Angus. He decided it was merely some mental symptom of the man’s physical condition.

Titus’s cough persisted—during the winter seemed to grow worse and worse. “He hain’t got long to live,” Dr. Knipe informed Angus, “and a doggone good thing, I say.” Titus continued steadily to travel down the hill, and though he was still able to be about, it was not difficult to foretell that the end was approaching. Even Titus himself realized this—and his terror at the realization was a dreadful thing to live with. At this time he took to sitting much in an armchair on the sunny porch, and there it was Jake Schwartz’s habit to repair at frequent intervals.

Titus and Jake became friends of a sort. Titus looked forward to Jake’s visits with the anticipation of a malicious man who enjoys thwarting another’s desire. Jake came and came with a grim determination to have his curiosity satisfied.