And they got up.  And the father’s eyes were wet.  And Phil’s eyes were not dry.  Then the father said:—­

“My boy, there’s a law of life that where there is sin, there is suffering.  You can’t detach those two things.  Where there is suffering there has been sin somewhere.  And where there is sin there will be suffering.  You can’t get these two things apart.  Now,” he went on, “you have done wrong.  And I am in this home like God is in the world.  So we will do this.  You go up to the attic.  I’ll make a pallet for you there.  We’ll take your meals up to you at the regular times, and you stay up there as long as you’ve been a living lie—­three days and three nights.”

And Phil didn’t say a word.  They went up stairs, the pallet was made, and the father kissed his boy and left him alone with his thoughts.  Supper time came, and the father and mother sat down to eat.  But they couldn’t eat for thinking about the boy.  The longer they chewed upon the food, the bigger and dryer it got in their mouths.  And swallowing it was clear out of the question.  Then they went into the sitting room for the evening.  He picked up the evening paper to read, and she sat down to sew.  Well, his eyes weren’t very good.  He wore glasses.  And this evening he couldn’t seem to see distinctly—­the glasses seemed blurred.  It must have been the glasses, of course.  So he took them off and cleaned them very deliberately and then found that he had been holding the paper upside down.  And she tried to sew.  But the thread broke, and she couldn’t seem to get the needle threaded again.  You could see they were both bothered.  How we do reveal ourselves in the details!

By and by the clock struck nine, and then ten, their usual hour for retiring.  But they made no move toward retiring.  She said, “Aren’t you going to bed?” And he said, “I think I’ll not go yet a bit; you go.”  “No, I guess I’ll wait a while, too.”  And the clock struck eleven, and the hands worked around toward twelve.  Then they arose, and locked up, and went to bed, but—­not to sleep.  Each one made pretence to be asleep, and each one knew the other was not asleep.  By and by she said (women are always the keener), “Why don’t you sleep?” And he said gently, “How did you know I wasn’t sleeping?  Why don’t you sleep?”

“Well, I just can’t for thinking of the boy up in the attic.”

“That’s the bother with me,” he replied.  And the clock in the hall struck twelve, and one, and two.  Still no sleep came.

[Illustration:  “I’m going up stairs with Phil.”]

At last he said, “Mother, I can’t stand this any longer; I’m going up stairs with Phil.”  And he took his pillow and went softly out of the room, and up the attic stairs, and pressed the latch-key softly, so as not to wake the boy if he were asleep, and tiptoed across the attic floor to the corner by the window, and looked—­there Phil lay, wide awake, with something glistening in his eyes, and what