Forever; he repeated the word with a
silent bitter force. The feel of the kettle in his hand, the thin odor
of the beer and slopping foam, seemed to him evidences of acute
degeneration; he was oppressed by a mounting dejection. God seemed very
far away.
His wife was talking while Bowman listened with an air of sympathetic
wisdom.
"It wasn't so bad then," she said; "I was kind of glad to get away, and
Lem was certain everything would open right out. But he's awful hard to
do with; he wouldn't take a dollar from parties who had every right to
stake him good, and borrowed five from no more than a stranger to buy
that secondhand barber chair. What he needed was chloroform to separate
these farmers from their dimes and whiskers." Bowman laughed loudly,
and a corresponding color invaded Bella. "Of course no one knew Lem had
done time, then. They wouldn't have either, but for the Law and Order.
Oh, dear me, no, your child ain't none of your own; they lend it to you
like and then sneak up whenever the idea takes them, to see if it's
getting a Turkish bath. I guess the people on the street wondered who
was our swell automobile friend till they found out."
"I suppose," Bowman put in, "they all came round and offered you the
helping hand, wanted to see you happy and successful."
She laughed. "Them?" she demanded. "Them? The man that owns this house
said that if he'd known, Lem would never had it; they don't want
convicts in this town.
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