As he drove away it suddenly occurred to him that on the morrow, instead of coming to the house in his car, he would leave it in the garage and walk.  Between the discovery of his inefficiency and his resolution to dispense with a hitherto accustomed luxury there may have been a subtler connection than appears to the eye.

CHAPTER VII

A TRAITOROUS PROCEEDING

“We shall have to make our work count this week, Mr. Kendrick.  Next week I anticipate that there will be no chance whatever to do a stroke.”  So spoke Judge Gray to his assistant on one Monday morning as he shook hands with him in greeting.

“Very well, sir,” replied the young man, with, however, a sense of its not being at all well.  It was to him a regrettable fact that he seldom saw much of the various members of the household, and of one particular member so little that he was tempted to wonder if she ever took the trouble to evade him.  But, of course, there was always the chance of an encounter, and he never opened the house door without the feeling that just inside might be a certain figure on its way out.

“Next week is Christmas week,” explained Judge Gray.  He stood upon the hearth-rug, his back to the open fire, warming his hands preparatory to taking up his pen.  His fingers were apt to be a little stiff on these December mornings.  “During Christmas week this house is always given over to such holiday doings as I don’t imagine another house in town ever knows.  Christmas house-parties are plenty, I believe, but not the sort of house-party we indulge in.  I am inclined to think ours beats the world.”

He chuckled, running his hand through the thick white locks above his brow with a gesture which Richard had come to know meant special satisfaction.

“You have so many and such delightful people?” suggested his assistant.

The white head nodded.  “The house would hardly hold more, nor could they be more delightful.  You see, there are five brothers of us.  I am the eldest, Robert the youngest.  Rufus, Henry, and Philip come between.  Henry and Philip live in small towns, Rufus in the country proper.  Each has a good-sized family, with several married sons and daughters who have children of their own.  It has been my brother Robert’s custom for twenty years to ask them all here for Christmas week.”  He began to laugh.  “If the family keeps on growing much larger I don’t know that there will be room to accommodate them all, but so far my sister has always managed.  Fortunately this is an even more roomy old homestead than it looks.  But you may easily imagine, Mr. Kendrick, that there is very little chance for solitude and quiet work during that week.”

“I can fully imagine,” agreed Richard.  “And yet I can’t imagine,” he amended.  “I never saw such a gathering in my life.”