“Some of them, Doris.  The best of them.  I’m glad to see you game.”

“Oh! yes.  I’m glad, too—­for Joan’s sake.  I will be giving Nancy her best and surest happiness—­with me, but not Joan.  And so, David, Joan must not have the slightest inkling—­she must go, when her time comes, unhampered.  You, Nancy, and I must contribute that to her future.”

Martin saw that Doris was still trembling, she was excited, too, in her controlled way.  He was anxious.

“You’re seeing things in broad daylight, Doris.  Why, my dear, both the girls will be snapped up before any of us catch our breaths.  That is what Miss Phillips’ is for.  Training for fine American wives and mothers.  A good job, too.”

Doris smiled and shook her head.  Then she said suddenly: 

“David, the old spectre stalks!  It seems as if I ought to know, as if the knowledge were right here, to-day.”

“Come, come, now Doris!  If you do not quiet down I’m going to pack you off to the hotel.  Why, see here, the kids have not revealed themselves.  You’re lashing yourself about nothing.  Can you not reason it out this way——­”

Martin sat close to the couch upon which Doris half reclined; he was almost praying that Joan would have a dozen encores—­by request, apparently, she was again chasing the rainbow on her Dog-star.

“The inheritance, I mean.  For I see it is that that is clutching you.  My work brings me close to primitive things—­I believe in inheritance down to the roots—­but by heaven, we inherit from the ages, not from our next of kin alone.  Each son and daughter of us comes into port with load enough to crush us, and if we kept it all we’d go under.  We shuffle off a lot.  It is the ability to shuffle, the opportunity to shuffle that counts.  Why, look here, Doris——­”

And Doris was looking, holding with all her strength to the man’s words.

“That little mountain woman had more daring and courage, according to what you told me, than poor Merry ever had.  She cut a wider circle, got more out of life, I bet, went out of it more satisfied.  Her child, with your help, could develop into something mighty worth while for she wouldn’t have so much to overcome at the start.  On the other hand, Meredith’s child would have to blaze her own trail, as far as any guidance from her mother is concerned.  Can’t you see, that’s where inheritance plays the devil with hasty conclusions?”

Doris drew a long breath and sat up.  She was seeking to hold to what she could not see.

“David,” she whispered, “is it the knowing, or the not knowing?  Could I have helped more wisely had I not shirked the truth?  In there, a moment ago, it was as if Meredith were demanding.  Oh! youth is awful in its possibilities of success or failure.”

Martin was seriously alarmed.  He had never seen Doris so shaken, but he talked on, seeking by a show of calmness to disarm her fears.