CO ATE FARM. 21 



a heart had been tortured for the third of a 

 century, that is, for the space of time allotted 

 to a generation. 



" That mark upon the panel had still a 

 further meaning; it represented the unhappi- 

 ness, the misfortunes, the Nemesis of two 

 hundred years. This family of Idens had 

 endured already two hundred years of unhap- 

 piness and discordance for no original fault of 

 theirs, simply because they had once been for- 

 tunate of old time, and therefore they had to 

 work out that hour of sunshine to the utmost 

 depths of shadow. 



"The panel of the wainscot upon which 

 that mark had been worn was in effect a cross 

 upon which a human heart had been tortured 

 and thought can, indeed, torture for a 

 third of a century. For Iden had learned to 

 know himself, and despaired." 



Then the man falls asleep, and Amaryllis 

 steals in on tiptoe to find a book. Then the 

 wife, with a shawl round her shoulders, creeps 

 outside the house and looks in at the window 

 angry with her unpractical husband. 



