GLAVIS tried to appear very serious when Baptiste
called at where he worked an hour later, but it was
beyond him to be so. It was said that he was in
the habit of trying to appear like the Reverend, but since
the pretended seriousness of that one had never affected
Jean Baptiste, Glavis' affectation had still less effect,

" Well, Glavis," he began pointedly. " I'm here as per
your suggestion, and since it is quite plain what the matter
is, we may as well come directly to the point."

" Well, yes, Baptiste, I guess I may as well agree with
you," replied Glavis.

" Then, to begin with. That remark you made over the
'phone regarding what I had said about you, let me say is
a falsehood pure and simple. What I said or would say to
your back I will say to your face."

" Well, Baptiste," he replied quickly, and his expression
confirmed the words that followed, " I believe you."

" I have no occasion to lie. It is very plain that our
father-in-law and I are not in accord, and while it may be
nothing to you perhaps, I do not hesitate to say that there
is nothing wrong between Orlean and me and never has
been. It is all between her father and me, and he is using
her as the means."

" Well, that is rather direct," suggested Glavis.

" Evidently so ; but it's the truth and you know it. It is
simply a case which you are supposed not to see all sides of."

" Now, Baptiste," defended Glavis, " I am no party to
your wife's being here in Chicago."

" And I agree with you," returned Baptiste. " It is not
your nature to make trouble between people, Glavis. I'll
do you that honor. People are inclined to follow their natural bent, and yours. I repeat, is not to cause others misery.
Therefore, you can rest assured that I do not mean to involve you in any of my troubles."

" That is sure manly in you, Baptiste," Glavis said heartily.

" But it is a fact, I venture, that you have been advised
that I spoke ill of you at least, I spoke disparagingly of
you while your folks were in the West. Am I speaking
correctly ? "

" I'll have to admit that you are," and he scowled a little.

" Do you believe these statements ? "

The other scowled again, but didn't have the courage to
say that he did or, perhaps to lie. He knew why he had
been told what he had. To unite with the Reverend in his
getting even with Baptiste, Glavis had been told that Baptiste
had " run him down."

" Well, Glavis, the fact that my wife is at your home
under your roof I, her husband, am therefore placed at
a disadvantage thereby. You cannot help being indirectly
implicated in whatever may happen."

" Now, now, Baptiste," the other cried quickly. " I do
not want to have anything to do with you and Orlean's
troubles. I-- "

" It is not Orlean and my troubles, Glavis. It is her fa-
ther's and my troubles."

Glavis shifted uncomfortably. Presently he said hesitatingly :

" The old man just left town this morning. Wished you
and he could have had your outs together."

" Yes, it is too bad we did not. As I see it, I have no
business with him. In him I am not interested, and never
have been. Because I have held aloof from becoming so
is the cause of the trouble. I was told before I married
Orlean, and by her herself, that I should praise her father ;
that I should make him think that he was a king, if I would
get along with him. Indeed, I did not, I confess, at the time
consider it to be as grave as that, that I had this to do in
order to live with Orlean."

It was positively uncomfortable to Glavis. He could find
no words to disagree with the other because he knew that he
spoke the truth. He knew that he had catered to the Rever-
end's vanity to be allowed to pay court to Ethel before he
was married to her ; he knew that he had done so since ; and
he knew and did not always like it that he was still
doing so, and boarding the Reverend's wife into the bargain,
and Orlean now was added thereto. He did not relish the
task. He earned only a small salary that was insufficient
for his own and his wife's needs. Up to a certain point his
wife defied her father; but since she was so like him in
disposition, and had been instrumental in assisting to separate Orlean and her husband, she had not the courage to
rebel and compel at least insist that the Reverend take
care of his wife and the daughter he had parted from her
husband.

So it was all thrown onto Glavis. He made a few dol-
lars extra each week by various means, and this helped him
a little. In truth, he wished that Orlean was with her hus-
band, and knowing very well that there was where she
wanted to be, he was inclined for the moment to try to help
Baptiste. Besides, he rather admired the man. Few peo-
ple could be oblivious to the personality of Baptiste and be
honest with themselves. Even the Elder had always found it expedient to be disagreeable in order to dispel the effect
of his son-in-law's frank personality.

" The way we are lined up, Glavis, you must appreciate
that you cannot keep out of it. You are aware that I have
no wish to hang around your abode; but I didn't come all
the way from the West to fail to see Orlean. You know
full well that Ethel would never let her meet me elsewhere,
that her father has left orders to that effect. Now, what am
I to do? If I call, your wife will make it so disagreeable
that nothing can be accomplished."

" Dammit ! " exclaimed Glavis suddenly. " It isn't all my
fault or the old man's or my wife's ! It's Orlean's ! "

" Well," agreed Baptiste, thoughtfully, " on the whole, that
is so."

" Of course it is ! If Orlean was a woman she would be
right out there with you now where she belongs ! "

" And I agree with you again, Glavis. But Orlean isn't
a woman, and that is what I have been trying to make her.
She has never been a woman wasn't reared so to be. By
nature she is like her mother, and she has grown up according to her training."

" She cannot be two things at the same time," Glavis
argued, " and that is a daughter to her father and a wife
to you ! "

"No, that is where the difficulty lay," said Baptiste.
" But her father's influence over her is great, you will
admit. She has been taught to agree with him, and that
I can never, nor will I try to do."

" It certainly beats hell ! "

" It's the most awkward situation I have ever been placed
in. But here's the idea : I took that girl for better or for
worse. Now, what am I to do? Throw up my hands and
quit, or try to see Orlean and get her around to reason?

It isn't Orlean. It's her father. So I have concluded to
make some sort of a fight. Life and marriage are too serious just to let matters go like this."

" Yes, it is," agreed Glavis. " It certainly worries me.
And it annoys me because it is so unnecessary." He was
thoughtful and then suddenly he said :

" I'm sorry you let the old man er ah get you
mixed up like this." He appeared as 'if he wished to say
more. To say that : " For when you let him get into it,
the devil would be to pay! Keep him out of your affairs
if you would live in peace."

" Well," said Baptiste, rising, " your time here belongs to
the company you are working for, and not to me or my
troubles. So I'm going to ' beat ' it now out to Thirty-first
Street."

" Well," returned Glavis, " believe me, Baptiste, I'm sorry
for you, and for Orlean. It's rotten." It was remarkable
how he saw what was causing it; but how he cleverly kept
from directly accusing his father-in-law. "And I'll meet
you at Thirty-first Street after supper. At the Keystone,
remember." With that he grasped the other's hand warmly,
and as Jean Baptiste went down the stairway from where
Glavis worked, he knew that he had a friend who at least
wanted to help right a most flagrant wrong. The only ques-
tion was, would E. M. Glavis have the courage to go through
with it?

Well, Glavis might have the courage but Ethel was his
wife. And Jean Baptiste realized that of all things in the
world, a woman's influence is the most subtle. .