Part 32 (1/2)

CHAPTER x.x.xV

Both Lewis and his father pa.s.sed a miserable night, but not even Nelton could have guessed it when the two met in the morning for a late Sunday breakfast. Leighton felt a touch of pride in the bearing of his son. He wondered if Lewis had taken to heart a saying of his: ”To feel sullen is human nature; to show it is ill breeding.” He decided that he hadn't, on the grounds that no single saying is ever more than a straw tossed on the current of life.

When they had finished breakfast in their accustomed cheerful silence, Leighton settled down to a long cigar and his paper.

”I suppose you're off to see your lady,” he said casually.

Lewis laughed.

”Not yet. She isn't up until twelve ever.”

”Doesn't get up until twelve?” said Leighton. ”You've found that out, eh?”

”I didn't say 'doesn't get up'; I said 'isn't.' She gets up early enough, but it takes her hours. I've never even heard of a woman that takes such care of herself.”

Leighton laid his paper aside.

”By the way,” he said, ”I've a confession to make to you, one that has worried me for some days. Your little affair drove it out of my mind last night.”

”Well, Dad, go ahead,” said Lewis. ”I won't be hard on you.”

”Have you any recollection of what you were working on before you went away?”

For a moment Lewis's face looked blank, then suddenly it flushed. He turned sharp eyes on his father.

”I left the studio locked,” he said.

Leighton colored in his turn.

”I forgive you that,” he said quietly. ”Just after I came back to town Vi called and told me she had been posing for you. She said she had left something in the studio that she wanted to fetch herself. She asked me for the key.”

Lewis's hands were clenched.

”Well?” he asked.

”I went with her--to the door. She asked me to wait outside. She was gone a long time. I heard her sobbing----”

”Sobbing? Vi?”

Leighton nodded.

”So--so I went in.”

Father and son looked steadily at each other for a moment. Then Lewis said:

”You've forgiven me for my thought, Dad; now I beg your pardon for it. I suppose you saw that that bit of modeling was never intended for the Salon? It was meant for Vi--because--well, because I liked her enough to----”

”I know,” interrupted Leighton. ”Well, it worked. It worked as such cures seldom do. While Vi was sobbing her heart out on the couch, I smashed up the statue with a mallet. That's my confession.”

Lewis did not move.

”Did you hear what I said?” asked Leighton. ”I smashed up your model of Vi.”