Page:The Overland Monthly, Jan-June 1894.djvu/265



L894.

An Episode in tJie Life of Robert the Simple.

201

fnistled around putting on the children's

lats and cloaks, and making them look

is smart as they could in their faded

garments. When he had finished he

urned to the Major. " Could I ask you to wait here a few

-ninutes until I return ? " he inquired.

' I shall not delay you long."

The Major nodded, and putting on his pat, Robert hurried out. He soon re- turned, and thrust a package into the hands of the eldest child. " Some candy

or the children. They like it so much,"

e explained to the Major; and then

kdded as he kissed them both, "Give

my love to your mother, and tell her I hope she will soon be well. And believe me, Major, I am deeply grateful."

As the door closed behind them he sat down on a chair, and remained buried in thought for some time. A sense of

oneliness possessed him that he could mot shake off. He shivered slightly, as if the lonely room seemed colder with- out its usual occupants, and rising, got (his pipe, filled it, and sat down to think lit all over again.

" It 's all for the best, and the Major is runusually kind," he mused. " And yet I cannot but wish it had been otherwise. [I wonder if I could have done anything to prevent it. I know I am different from the other people here, and yet I have tried to get something to do. I lack education in ' hustling,' as they call it ; that 's what it is. But it 's so for- eign to my nature that I do not believe I could ever acquire it."

He finally gave up the problem in despair, and retired to rest.

As time passed he became more ac- customed to his position ; he went down to the business houses day after day, finding occasional employment that re- lieved his necessities, and at evening he went home to his lonely, cheerless lodgings and smoked his pipe. He saw nothing of his wife or the children, and felt that he had no right to inquire about them, though he saw Major Kamm

frequently. He accepted it as a penal- ty for his helplessness, which he now realized as fully as anybody, but which he felt that he could not remedy.

Meanwhile Mrs. Churchill improved slowly. She received the best of care, but had been so weakened that recuper- ation was a slow process. At first she worried about Robert, and it required positive orders from the doctor, prompt- ed by Major Kamm, to banish the sub- ject. The Major assured her that her husband was well, and that satisfied her for a time. At length her health was fully restored, and she announced her intention of going home.

" I have been waiting until you were strong enough to talk to you about that," said the Major. "Churchill is a nice fellow, and I like him immensely. But he cannot get along in this country. He has barely made a living for himself since you have been with us, and what assistance he has received has been through sympathy rather than through any demand for his work. Had you been with him you would have suffered as you did before, and that is the only outlook there is for you in the future. Why not stay here with us?"

"But, Major, I am already under ob- ligations to you greater than I can ever repay. I could not consent to in- crease that indebtedness, and remain longer than is absolutely necessary. And my place is by my husband's side."

" But you can find something to do to support yourself and the children, and stay here in the meantime. Until you get yourself established you should al- low Mrs. Kamm and myself to have our way and help you. Should you return to your husband, your health will be shattered again, and you can do nothing. You owe it to yourself to be firm now."

" But Robert needs me more now than ever."

" And you would sacrifice yourself needlessly for him. It is wrong for you to go back and live with him."