“How do you make that out?” asked Herbert.
“Why, by your actions,” was the reply; “you are constantly doing unexplainable things. Take to-day for instance. Who else would have done so much for a man who was the cause of all his troubles?”
“Ah!” said Herbert, “but you must understand that my troubles are now buried in the grave with that poor, miserable man. I can afford to be generous.”
“Even if you are not just?”
“Who shall determine that—I for one shall always shrink from being the judge of my fellow men.”
“But you know that this Adler was thoroughly disreputable—”
“Yes,” interrupted Herbert, “and that is all the more reason why I should be reputable. A man must be merciful if he looks for mercy himself.”
They had reached their rooms by this time, and after a few preliminaries, Herbert sat down at his desk and began to clear up an accumulation of work that had been neglected during the past week, largely because his time was taken up in preparing for the funeral arrangements of Harry Adler. This work occupied his attention almost constantly till late in the night. His last act was to write a letter to his mother at Cleverly, reminding her that she would be expected to arrive in New York on Christmas Eve, which important occasion would occur on the following day. He put a special delivery stamp on the letter and carried it around to one of the sub-post office stations in order to insure its prompt delivery on the following morning.
When the day before Christmas arrived it brought with it a fine fall of snow, and quite early in the morning the face of New York was hidden from view with a soft, fleecy covering. At noon time that day Herbert received a telegram from his mother saying that she would be unable to reach New York till about eleven o’clock on Christmas morning. It seemed odd that she should disappoint him in this unaccountable way; but he thrust the telegram in his pocket, and in the rush of his everyday duties quickly forgot the incident.
That evening Tomlin came into the house with a rather solemn face and said to Herbert: