FORE:Reuben was now alone at Odiam��for the first time. Of course Harry was with him still, but Harry did not count. There was an extraordinary vitality in him, none the less; it was as if the energies unused by his brain were diverted to keep together his crumbled body. He grew more shrivelled, more ape-like every day, and yet he persisted in life. He still scraped at his fiddle, and would often sit for hours at a time mumbling��"Only a poor old man��a poor old man��old man��old man," over and over again, sometimes with a[Pg 413] sudden shrill cry of "Salvation's got me!" or "Another wedding!��we're always having weddings in this house." His brother avoided him, and did his best to ignore him��he was the scar of an old wound.

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