“Davidson, with his scrupulous delicacy of feeling, was not the man to assert his rights over a woman who could not bear the sight of him.  He bowed his head; and shortly afterwards arranged for her to go back to her parents.  That was exactly what she wanted in her outraged dignity.  And then she had always disliked the tropics and had detested secretly the people she had to live amongst as Davidson’s wife.  She took her pure, sensitive, mean little soul away to Fremantle or somewhere in that direction.  And of course the little girl went away with her too.  What could poor Davidson have done with a little girl on his hands, even if she had consented to leave her with him—­which is unthinkable.

“This is the story that has spoiled Davidson’s smile for him—­which perhaps it wouldn’t have done so thoroughly had he been less of a good fellow.”

Hollis ceased.  But before we rose from the table I asked him if he knew what had become of Laughing Anne’s boy.

He counted carefully the change handed him by the Chinaman waiter, and raised his head.

“Oh! that’s the finishing touch.  He was a bright, taking little chap, as you know, and the Fathers took very special pains in his bringing up.  Davidson expected in his heart to have some comfort out of him.  In his placid way he’s a man who needs affection.  Well, Tony has grown into a fine youth—­but there you are!  He wants to be a priest; his one dream is to be a missionary.  The Fathers assure Davidson that it is a serious vocation.  They tell him he has a special disposition for mission work, too.  So Laughing Anne’s boy will lead a saintly life in China somewhere; he may even become a martyr; but poor Davidson is left out in the cold.  He will have to go downhill without a single human affection near him because of these old dollars.”

Jan. 1914

Footnotes: 

{1} The gallows, supposed to be widowed of the last executed criminal and waiting for another.

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