"Isn't there some way out of it, Dad ?" The muscles about Mr.Culpeper's mouth contracted as if he were going to cry; but when he spoke his voice was completely under control.

"I can't interfere, son, with the way the agent manages the property," he answered, "but, of course, if you have discovered a peculiarly distressing case--if it is an object of charity--" He paused abruptly in amazement, for Stephen was laughing, laughing in a way, as Mrs.Culpeper remarked afterward, that nobody had ever even thought of laughing before the whole world had become demoralized.
"Damn charity!" he exclaimed hilariously.

"I beg your pardon, Mother, but if you only knew how inexpressibly funny it is!" Then the laughter stopped, and a wistful look came into his eyes, for beyond the broken walls he saw Patty Vetch in her red cape, and around her stretched the wind-swept roads of that hidden country.
A minute later, as he left the room, his mother's eyes followed him anxiously.

"Poor boy, we must bear with him," she said in melting maternal accents..