my way to go back to her, but that let me out completely. I quit then, and
I've stayed quit. The only break I made was showin' up here at the
'leventh hour, thinking I could be some use to my son!"

"It was to be," said Paul. "For years our lives have been shaping towards
this meeting. There were a thousand chances against it. Yet here we are!"

"Here we are!" the packer repeated soberly. "But don't think that I lay
any of my foolishness on the Almighty! Maybe it was meant my son should
close my eyes, but it's too dear at the price. Anybody would say so, I
don't care who."

"But aside from the 'price,' is it something to you?"

"More--more than I've got words to say. And yet it grinds me, every breath
I take! Not that I wish you'd done different--you couldn't and be a man. I
knew it even when I was kickin' against it. Oh, well! It ain't no use to
kick. I thought I'd learned something, but I ain't--learned--a thing!"




XIII


CURTAIN

A greater freedom followed this confession, as was natural. It became the
basis for lighter confidences and bits of autobiography that came to the
surface easily after this tremendous effort at sincerity. Paul found that