He gave me details, interspersed with exuberant denunciations of himself,
and I undertook the delicate task of peace-maker.
It was a weary work, but eventually she consented to forgive him. His
joy, when I told him, was boundless.
"How good women are," he said, while the tears came into his eyes. "But
she shall not repent it. Please God, from this day forth, I'll--"
He stopped, and for the first time in his life the doubt of himself
crossed his mind. As I sat watching him, the joy died out of his face,
and the first hint of age passed over it.
"I seem to have been 'tidying up and starting afresh' all my life," he
said wearily; "I'm beginning to see where the untidiness lies, and the
only way to get rid of it."
I did not understand the meaning of his words at the time, but learnt it
later on.
He strove, according to his strength, and fell. But by a miracle his
transgression was not discovered. The facts came to light long
afterwards, but at the time there were only two who knew.
It was his last failure. Late one evening I received a
hurriedly-scrawled note from his wife, begging me to come round.
"A terrible thing has happened," it ran; "Charley went up to his study
after dinner, saying he had some 'tidying up,' as he calls it, to do, and
did not wish to be disturbed.
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