He stole upstairs.Not daring to have a bath,or shave (besides,the water would be cold),he changed his clothes and packed stealthily all he could.It was hard to leave so many shining boots,but one must sacrifice something.Then,carrying a valise in either hand,he stepped out onto the landing.The house was very quiet--that house where he had begotten his four children.It was a curious moment,this,outside the room of his wife,once admired,if not perhaps loved,who had called him 'the limit.'He steeled himself with that phrase,and tiptoed on;but the next door was harder to pass.It was the room his daughters slept in.Maud was at school,but Imogen would be lying there;and moisture came into Dartie's early morning eyes.She was the most like him of the four,with her dark hair,and her luscious brown glance.Just coming out,a pretty thing!He set down the two valises.This almost formal abdication of fatherhood hurt him.The morning light fell on a face which worked with real emotion.Nothing so false as penitence moved him;but genuine paternal feeling,and that melancholy of 'never again.'He moistened his lips;and complete irresolution for a moment paralysed his legs in their check trousers.It was hard--hard to be thus compelled to leave his home!"D---nit!"he muttered,"I never thought it would come to this."Noises above warned him that the maids were beginning to get up.And grasping the two valises,he tiptoed on downstairs.
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