THE REVEREND McCARTHY had scored. He
had succeeded in separating his daughter from the
man she married. The fact that there was positively
no misunderstanding between the two, was not seen or con-
sidered by him. Jean Baptiste had opposed him, and that
was enough. He hated any member of his household, or any
one related to the one of his household who dared disagree
with him. Of course his " Majesty " did not see it that
way. He saw himself as the most saintly man in the world
and sympathized with himself accordingly. No man
thought himself more unjustly abused than did N. Justine
McCarthy.
But there were other things to complete. He had not
wilfully participated in what had just pa**ed in fact, he
had not meant to part the couple at all. He prided himself
with having some judgment. He was merely undertaking
that which in a way had grown common to him the task
of getting even.
Now he had estimated that he knew Jean Baptiste, although studying characters and their natural tendencies had
not been a part of his theme in life. He felt albeit, that he
had this one's tender spot clearly before him. To begin
with: he put himself right with his own conscience by believing that Baptiste was a vain, selfish character, bent on
one purpose getting rich! He concluded because he
wished to that Baptiste did not, and had never, loved
Orlean. The fact that Orlean had not said anything to the
contrary did not matter. He was her father, and therefore
predicated and privileged to think and act for her. That
was why he had always been of so much service, such
fatherly help. He was protecting his daughter from the
cruelty of men. But how he had planned it all !
" Now that hard-headed rascal," meaning of course his
son-in-law, " is not going to lay down. Oh, no ! My poor
girl has that claim. He does not want her, but he does want
the claim. To hold the claim, he must have her, and have
her back on the claim. He's all war now; but when he
realizes that to lose her is to lose the claim into the bargain
oh, well, I'll just set right down at home here and wait.
Yes, I'll wait. He'll be coming along. And when he appears here, then I'll bend his ornery will into the right way of
seeing things." So thereupon he took up his vigil, waiting for Jean Baptiste to put in his appearance.
But for some reason the other had not hastened to Chicago
as soon as the Elder had anticipated he would. Three weeks
had been consumed in the trip West, so he was somewhat
behind in his church work. While it was true that ministers
in some of the towns in his itinerary collected from the members at the quarterly conference and sent the money to him ; on the other hand if he expected to get what was due him
in any great measure, it was highly necessary that he be there
in person. Accordingly, the time he spent in Chicago, waiting for the coming of his son-in-law that he might have the
satisfaction of bending the other to his will began to grow
long and irksome.
Moreover, if he sat at home, he was obliged to meet and
greet the many visitors who called to see his sick daughter.
More largely of course for the purpose of securing in formation for gossip, but compelling him therefore to make or
offer some explanation. And here arose another phase of
the case that was not pleasant. Following Jean Baptiste's
marriage to Orlean, and after the Reverend had paid them
his first visit, he had said a great deal in praise of his " rich "
son-in-law. That he was so extremely vain, was why he
had done this. It had tickled his vanity to have the people
see his daughter marry so well, since it was well known
about Chicago that Jean Baptiste was very successful.
When the Elder had boasted to the people he met of the
" rich " man his daughter had married, he wrote telling the
young couple of it. To be referred to as " rich " he conjectured, should have flattered any man's vanity it would
have his and he estimated that he was doing Baptiste a
great favor when he let him know that he, the Elder, was
advertising him as rich.
But the same had brought no response from that one. He
had been too busy to take any interest in being praised. And
even after the Elder had made his first visit, and returned
and told of the wonders his daughter had married into, he
still hoped this would soften Baptiste's disposition into praising and fawning upon him. It was not until Baptiste had
returned the money he had sent his daughter for railway
fare the Xmas before that the Reverend had thrown down
the gauntlet and declared war. So the very thing he had
played up a few months before, came back now to annoy him.
Because he had never lived as he should have it was proving
a boomerang. He had made a practice of pretending not
to hear what was being said about him by others. But he
could not seal his ears to the fact that the people were asking
themselves and everybody else what had happened to his
daughter, or between his daughter and the " rich " son-in-
law. This was very uncomfortable, it was very annoying. It was reported that he was compelled to go out West and
get her, and it was exasperating to explain all without
making it seem that what he had said a few months before
was boast, pure and simple.
" Yeh. All you could hear a few months ago, was the
' rich ' man Orlean had married. Yeh. Mr. Me. would
make it his business to get around so you had to ask
'im about them. Then he'd swell up lak a big frog and tell
all about it. Then of a sudden he jumps up and goes out
there and brings her back. Ump ! Now I wonder what is
the mattah."
During these times, those of the household had little
peace. With impatience over Baptiste's not showing up so
he could read him the riot act, and his work being neglected ;
with having to listen to no end of gossip that his meddling
had brought about, he became the most obstinate problem
imaginable about the house. All the love he had pretended
for Orlean while on the claim, was now changed to severe
chastisement. He no longer fondled and wasted hours
over her. She had no longer the convenient check book.
The fact that she had to have a little medicine, and that she
also had to have other necessities ; that she had to eat and
the most of this he was forced to provide, made him so
irritable, that those near prayed for the day when he would
leave. But if Jean Baptiste would only come so that he
could say to him what he had planned to say. Just to have
the opportunity to bend that stubborn will that would be
sufficient to repay him for all he was now actually sacrificing.
As for " Little Mother Mary " these were the darkest
days of her never happy married life. Of all the men she
had met or known, she had truly admired and loved Jean
Baptiste more than any other. In truth it was her disposition to be frank, kind and truthful. She dearly loved her
son-in-law for his manly frank and kind disposition. She
trusted him, and, knowing that Orlean was of her disposition, weak and subservient to the will of those near, she had
been relieved to feel that she had married the kind of man
that would be patient and love a person with such a dis-
position.
She had been sincere in her praise of him to her many
friends. She had told of him to everybody she knew or
met. So much so indeed, that the Reverend on his last
trip West in his daily rebuke, then had said : " And Mary
has just sickened me with telling everybody she meets about
Jean." Ethel had joined with him in this. The truth was
that when her mother had sung her praise to the people regarding Jean Baptiste, there was nothing left to say about
Glavis, but more especially about the Elder.
What the Reverend was forced to endure at this time,
he promptly of course charged to the indiscretions of Jean
Baptiste. If he had not done this, or if .he had done that, the
Elder would not have been forced to endure such annoyance. If he would only show up with his practical ideas in
Chicago! Every morning when the door bell rang, he
listened eagerly for the voice of his son-in-law. He
watched the mail, and in a**orting the letters, looked anxiously for the Western postmark. But a week pa**ed, and
no letter and no Jean Baptiste. Then at the end of two
weeks, the same prevailed. And at the end of three weeks,
he knew he would have to go to work or reckon with the
bishop.
So on Tuesday of the following week, the Elder left for
his work, and that same afternoon, Jean Baptiste arrived in
Chicago.