The Road to Understanding

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THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING

[Illustration: AT SIGHT OF HER THE DOCTOR LEAPED FORWARD WITH A LOW CRY (p. 174)]

THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING

by

ELEANOR H. PORTER

Author of "Just David"

[Illustration]

Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company 1917

Copyright, 1917, by Eleanor H. Porter

TO MY FRIEND Miss Grace Wheeler

CONTENTS

I. FROSTED CAKES AND SHOTGUNS 1 II. AN ONLY SON 24 III. HONEYMOON DAYS 33 IV. NEST-BUILDING 43 V. THE WIPE 61 VI. THE HUSBAND 75 VII. STUMBLING-BLOCKS 82 VIII. DIVERGING WAYS 104 IX. A BOTTLE OF INK 125 X. BY ADVICE OF COUNSEL 155 XI. IN QUEST OF THE STARS 172 XII. THE TRAIL OF THE INK 182 XIII. A WOMAN'S WON'T 199 XIV. AN UNDERSTUDY 210 XV. A WOMAN'S WILL 225 XVI. EMERGENCIES 241 XVII. PINK TEAS TO FLIGHTY BLONDES 258 XVIII. A LITTLE BUNCH OF DIARIES 265 XIX. THE STAGE IS SET 284 XX. THE CURTAIN RISES 293 XXI. THE PLAY BEGINS 302 XXII. ACTOR AND AUDIENCE 314 XXIII. "THE PLOT THICKENS" 330 XXIV. COUNTER-PLOTS 339 XXV. ENIGMAS 348 XXVI. THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING 357

ILLUSTRATIONS

AT SIGHT OF HER THE DOCTOR LEAPED FORWARD WITH A LOW CRY (p. 174) Frontispiece HE WAS LOOKING AT HER LOVELY, GLORIFIED FACE 6 JOHN DENBY WENT STRAIGHT TO HIS SON AND LAID BOTH HANDS ON HIS SHOULDERS 150 "SO I RANG THE BELL" 310

From drawings by Mary Greene Blumenschein

CHAPTER I

FROSTED CAKES AND SHOTGUNS

If Burke Denby had not been given all the frosted cakes and toy shotguns he wanted at the age of ten, it might not have been so difficult to convince him at the age of twenty that he did not want to marry Helen Barnet.

Mabel, the beautiful and adored wife of John Denby, had died when Burke was four years old; and since that time, life, for Burke, had been victory unseasoned with defeat. A succession of "anything-for-peace" rulers of the nursery, and a father who could not bring himself to be the cause of the slightest shadow on the face of one who was the breathing image of his lost wife, had all contributed to these victories.

Nor had even school-days brought the usual wholesome discipline and democratic leveling; for a pocketful of money and a naturally generous disposition made a combination not to be lightly overlooked by boys and girls ever alert for "fun"; and an influential father and the scarcity of desirable positions made another combination not to be lightly overlooked by impecunious teachers anxious to hold their "jobs." It was easy to ignore minor faults, especially as the lad had really a brilliant mind, and (when not crossed) a most amiable disposition.

Between the boy and his father all during the years of childhood and youth, the relationship was very beautiful--so beautiful that the entire town saw it and expressed its approval: in public by nods and admiring adjectives; in private by frequent admonitions to wayward sons and thoughtless fathers to follow the pattern so gloriously set for them.

Of all this John Denby saw nothing; nor would he have given it a thought if he had seen it. John Denby gave little thought to anything, after his wife died, except to business and his boy, Burke. Business, under his skillful management and carefully selected assistants, soon almost ran itself. There was left then only the boy, Burke.

From the first they were comrades, even when comradeship meant the poring over a Mother Goose story-book, or mastering the intricacies of a game of tiddledywinks. Later, together, they explored the world of music, literature, science, and art, spending the long summer playtimes, still together, traveling in both well-known and little-known lands.