The two men rarely spoke, and never of the
past. Larry was well acquainted with, and understood, the older man's
deep-rooted wish to avoid all talk bearing upon deeds and associates
of other days; that was a part of his life and a phase of existence
that Joe Ellison was trying to forget, and Larry by his silence
deferred to his friend's desire.
On the day after Joe Ellison's visit to the Duchess, Larry had
received a note from his grandmother, addressed, of course, to "Mr.
Brandon." There was no danger in her writing Larry if she took
adequate precautions: mail addressed to Cedar Crest was not bothered
by postal and police officials; it was only mail which came to the
house of the Duchess which received the attention of these gentlemen.
The note was one which the Duchess, after that night of thought which
had so shaken her old heart, had decided to be a necessity if her plan
of never telling of her discovery of Maggie's real paternity were to
be a success. The major portion of her note dwelt upon a generality
with which Larry already was acquainted: Joe's desire to keep clear of
all talk touching upon the deeds and the people of his past. And then
in a careless-seeming last sentence the Duchess packed the carefully
calculated substance of her entire note:
"It may not be very important--but particularly avoid ever mentioning
the mere name of Jimmie Carlisle.
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