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Himanshu Agrawal
Foreword by Krishna Prasad P
Kubernetes Fundamentals: A Step-by-Step Development and
Interview Guide
Himanshu Agrawal
Pune, India
Acknowledgments�����������������������������������������������������������������������������xxi
Introduction�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xxiii
Foreword���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xxvii
v
Table of Contents
What Is Kubernetes?�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������21
What Is Red Hat’s OpenShift Container Platform?�����������������������������������������21
What Does Being “Cloud-Native” Mean?�������������������������������������������������������22
What Is Serverless?���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������23
Why Use Docker and Kubernetes?����������������������������������������������������������������24
Comparing Key Container Technologies��������������������������������������������������������������25
What Are the Alternatives to Docker?������������������������������������������������������������25
What Are the Alternatives to Kubernetes?�����������������������������������������������������26
How Are Kubernetes and Docker Related?����������������������������������������������������27
How Is Kubernetes Different from Docker Swarm?���������������������������������������27
How Is Kubernetes Different from Red Hat OpenShift,
Google Kubernetes Engine, and Others?�������������������������������������������������������28
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������28
vi
Table of Contents
vii
Table of Contents
viii
Table of Contents
ix
Table of Contents
x
Table of Contents
xi
Table of Contents
xii
Table of Contents
xiii
Table of Contents
xiv
Table of Contents
xv
Table of Contents
Index�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������413
xvi
About the Author
Himanshu Agrawal is an accomplished IT
professional with more than a decade of
experience in designing and implementing
complex solutions with JEE technologies. He
is a technical reviewer for a published book on
JVM and specializes in niche technical areas
such as JVM, Multithreading, TLS, Apache,
and Kubernetes, to name a few. Himanshu
has certifications from prestigious universities
such as Harvard and MIT.
Himanshu is an Oracle Certified Java
Developer, an Oracle Certified Web Component Developer, and certified
by Google Cloud for Architecting with the Google Kubernetes Engine.
Himanshu has also worked on .NET technologies in his early career and is
a Microsoft Certified Professional.
Currently Himanshu works as an Associate Consultant with CGI,
counted among the largest IT and business consulting services firms in
the world. He is a distinguished engineer and a recognized professional
within CGI, having received many quarterly and annual awards. Himanshu
extends his technical expertise to teams primarily in the finance and
telecom domains.
Himanshu actively contributes to online technical communities
including StackOverflow.com. In his spare time, Himanshu enjoys
watching movies and reading books.
xvii
About the Technical Reviewer
Nikhil Jain is an Ansible expert with more
than a decade of DevOps experience. He has
been contributing to and using Ansible since
its inception. He currently works closely with
Ansible engineering.
He is an open-source enthusiast and is part
of the Ansible Pune meetup-organizing team.
He has presented multiple Ansible sessions
at various global and local events. In addition
to automating things using Ansible, he loves
watching sports and is a regular player on the
local cricket team.
xix
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Apress and its editorial team for giving me the
opportunity to write this book.
A special thanks to Divya Modi, acquisition editor, for working with
me throughout the project. Without her, this book would not have seen
the light of day. Thanks to the book’s production editor, Sowmya Thodur.
Thanks also to the book’s development editor, James Markham, and the
technical reviewer, Nikhil Jain, for their feedback.
I would like to thank God for everything He has given me.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents, my sister, and my Pittar
Baavji, without whom I would not have gotten this far in my life.
xxi
Introduction
This book is a step-by-step development guide designed with an
interview-driven approach. This book will walk you through the breadth
of Kubernetes concepts required to develop, deploy, and manage
applications on Kubernetes, and as you do so, you will be getting ready for
job interviews. Each concept in the book is presented in the form of a Q&A,
with questions being framed exactly as they would be in an interview. This
book can be of great advantage if you are preparing for a job interview that
involves working with Kubernetes.
Specifically, in Chapter 1, “Welcome to The World of Containers!”
you will understand how application development and deployment have
evolved over the decades and led to containerization. We will discuss a
broad range of concepts such as virtualization, hypervisors, microservices,
and more.
In Chapter 2, “Kubernetes Deep Dive,” we will enter the world of
Kubernetes. We will start our discussion with the Kubernetes architecture
and how all its components work together to form a Kubernetes cluster.
You will also be taken through the history and evolution of Kubernetes.
In Chapter 3, “Fundamental Objects in Kubernetes Clusters,” and
Chapter 4, “Advanced Objects in Kubernetes Cluster,” you will learn about
all the important Kubernetes objects: containers, pods, deployments,
ReplicaSets, and more. We will go into detail about how to work with each
of them to maximize their potential. We will also go through Kubernetes
deployment strategies and concepts related to rollout and rollback.
In Chapter 5, “Objects Important for a Secure Kubernetes Clusters,”
you will learn about Kubernetes objects such as namespaces, jobs, etc.,
that play a pivotal role in creating a secure Kubernetes cluster. You will
xxiii
Introduction
learn how labels, label selectors, and annotations work in Kubernetes. You
will also understand Kubernetes access control mechanisms, covering
authentication, authorization, and admission control.
In Chapter 6, “Networking in Kubernetes,” and Chapter 7, “The
Kubernetes Storage System,” you will learn about two critical components
in any computing ecosystem: networking and storage. We will discuss
Kubernetes services and ingress. We will also go over the various storage
options available in Kubernetes for both normal and confidential data.
In Chapter 8, “Manage Your Kubernetes Cluster Efficiently,” you will
gain an understanding of how to manage a Kubernetes cluster using health
checks, probes, resource quotas, and resource limits. You will also learn
about taints and tolerations.
In Chapter 9, “Docker Overview and Kubernetes Best Practices,” you
will get an overview of Docker. We will also cover some best practices for
using Kubernetes and Docker together.
In Chapter 10, “kubectl: The Command-Line Tool,” you will be
introduced to the kubectl command-line tool. We will also provide a
summary of key kubectl commands.
Over the course of the book, you can expect to learn about the
following:
• How application design and deployment have evolved
over the past decades, including all the related
technologies such as virtualization, hypervisor,
distributed computing, containerization, microservices
architecture, and more
xxiv
Introduction
xxv
Foreword
The technological landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace. Over
the last three decades, I have seen a lot of advancements and am more
excited and optimistic about technological advancements now than ever.
We are making momentous, responsible progress across the technological
spectrum, from human intelligence to machine learning and artificial
intelligence, manual tasks to automation and RPA, distributed ledgers to
blockchains, on-premise to cloud computing, and so on. They all have one
thing in common: a piece of software, an application, on top of the stack
that requires a container to run on.
Along with these technological advancements, we are also making a
significant shift in application design and deployment strategies. Moving
from a monolithic to a microservices architecture is no longer a choice
but rather a fundamental need, a strategic decision in order to maintain
a competitive edge in a world where scalability and resilience are the
foundations of customer expectations. This is where containerization
comes into play. It is expected that, eventually, all production-grade large
to medium-sized applications will be migrated to a containerized platform.
Kubernetes as the best container orchestrator is almost becoming
cliché. Kubernetes sits in the center of any greenfield or brownfield
application architecture and is changing the way applications are
developed and maintained. Container orchestrators such as Kubernetes
are also critical components of the DevOps architecture. And today we
cannot imagine a production design that is not woven with the fabric
of DevOps. This brings us to our central point: Kubernetes is quickly
becoming an indispensable technology for application development and
deployment, and it is a must-learn for anyone working in the field.
xxvii
Foreword
Krishna Prasad
Vice President Consulting Delivery, CGI
xxviii
CHAPTER 1
2
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
for the server’s resources. A typical solution used for this problem is to
run each application on a different physical server, but running a set of
physical servers is expensive even for big organizations.
Suppose we have four applications and a 5GB physical server (for easy
understanding, we are only considering RAM size). So, to overcome the
problem, we would deploy our application on different physical servers of
1GB each, guaranteeing a fixed set of server resources to each application.
3
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
This is the best and most flexible deployment model because if, at any
point in time, we think that one of our applications needs only 500MB of
server resources, then we can make this adjustment within seconds by
reconfiguring the container to use only 500MB of server resources, thereby
freeing up 500MB of server resources that can then be used somewhere
else. And these adjustments are possible because containers are very
lightweight.
What Is a Hypervisor?
A virtual machine is an emulation of a physical computer, and a hypervisor
is software that creates and runs VMs. A hypervisor virtualizes a host
system’s hardware by emulating CPU, memory, and networking resources
so that these resources can be divided and several virtual machines can be
created from them. Since the hypervisor provides hardware virtualization,
each virtual machine can have a different operating system.
Primarily, hypervisors are of two types: type-1 and type-2. Figure 1-2
shows a graphical depiction of type-1 and type-2 hypervisors.
4
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
5
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
What Is Virtualization?
Virtualization is a broad concept that means creating a virtual representation
of something. In the world of IT, virtualization is a technology that allows
us to virtualize computing resources such as servers, networks, storage,
etc. By hardware virtualization, we get virtual machines (VMs). Two core
entities in the concept of virtualization are hypervisors and virtual machines.
Hypervisors were already discussed in the previous section, and virtual
machines are nothing but byproducts of hypervisors.
• Virtualization of server
• Virtualization of storage
• Virtualization of network
• Virtualization of data
• Virtualization of desktop
6
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
7
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
master, managing all other worker nodes, while in the case of a distributed
system, there is no such master node. This master node of the centralized
system can result in a cascading failure of nodes, and since this master
node is absent in the distributed system, there is no single point of failure,
making distributed systems very resilient.
In simple words, having a distributed system or design just means
that your system is designed in such a way that there is no single point of
failure.
Cloud computing, the microservices architecture, and
containerization, in some way or another, are all practical examples of
distributed systems.
8
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
9
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
Peer-to-Peer
The peer-to-peer architecture eliminates the roles of client and server
because, in this architecture, there is no separate node that performs the
role of a server and there is no separate node that performs the role of a
client; any node can have the role of a client or a server.
The peer-to-peer architecture is the closest form of a decentralized
system. In peer-to-peer architecture, since any node can play the role of a
server or client, the scalability of peer-to-peer architecture is the highest.
Blockchain and instant messaging are the best examples of a peer-to-peer
architecture.
10
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
11
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
provider, and the client gets an environment for developing and delivering
applications. In SaaS, the client gets on-demand access to ready-to-use
applications over the Internet.
What Is Containerization?
Containerization is a form of virtualization, because they both allow for full
isolation of applications from underlying infrastructure so that they can
be operational in different types of environments. With containerization,
we can bundle all of the components of an application needed to run the
code into a single lightweight executable called a container and run it in an
isolated user space on the same shared operating system.
The idea of containerization and process isolation has been around
for a long time, but the architectural shift to microservices and the release
of the open-source Docker Engine accelerated the widespread adoption
of this idea. Another major reason for the widespread adoption of
containerization is that it makes the application totally portable. Once we
have packaged all the components of an application into a single container
image, we can run this image in any environment as long as there is a
container runtime in that environment. The way the JVM makes the Java
platform independent, similarly containerization makes applications
“write once and run anywhere.”
There are many use cases for containerization, but the most popular
ones are microservices and multicloud deployment.
12
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
13
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
14
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
15
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
16
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
18
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
19
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
What Is Docker?
Docker is an open-source platform that allows you to develop, run, and
ship containerized applications. Simply put, Docker is a container runtime
that enables you to package all your application code along with its
dependencies (external as well as system) into an image and then create
containers by running the image.
A container runtime is a piece of software that knows how to run a
container from a container image. Docker is one of the most popular
container runtimes. There are other popular container runtimes, such as
the following:
20
Chapter 1 Welcome to The World of Containers!
What Is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes allows you to deploy, scale, and manage containerized
applications in a regulated and automated manner. Simply put,
Kubernetes is a container orchestrator. Within the technical community,
Kubernetes is also referred to as K8s. Using container runtimes like
Docker, you can package your code, dependent libraries, and runtime into
an image and run it to create containers, but containers are transient; if
your container crashes, you will need to ensure that another container
is created automatically, so these are the kinds of things that a container
orchestrator like Kubernetes does. Kubernetes also enables you to do
resource management, group the containers to create clusters, etc.
There are many technologies and projects that are built on Kubernetes,
for example, Kubeflow. The Kubeflow project aims to simplify the overall
design, portability, and scalability of machine learning (ML) workflow
deployments on Kubernetes.
21
Other documents randomly have
different content
here, a friendless, helpless girl--a girl whom nobody but you could
help loving for the goodness that is in her. She brought sunshine into
this house, which was gloomy enough without her. She had no
mother, no father, no friends, and you were her only protector. How
have you fulfilled your duty towards her? Shall I answer for you? You
have behaved like a tyrant, in whom all human feeling was
deadened. When she strove to love you, you compelled her, by
harsh words and cold looks and repellent acts, to hate you. She has
good cause for her feelings towards you now, for you did your best
to make every hour and every day of her life a misery to her. She
told me herself that she was only happy out of the house; so that
you did your work well. If you saw faults in her which no one else
saw, and which had their birth in your own hard unfeeling nature,
what right had you to torture her in the way you did? She was but a
child, and you are an old man. Why could you not have dealt
tenderly and gently by her? Ask my mother--ask Miss West--ask any
of her friends--if there is anything in her character that might not be
turned to good account? But you could not see it. Lightheartedness
and an innocent flow of spirits are crimes in your eyes. You made
her pay bitterly for the shelter you gave her; you have shown the
generosity of your nature in its fullest light by making her say, after
a long experience of you, that she would starve rather than enter
your house again. When you told us the story of your life, you said
you wished me to hear it because I might learn something from it. I
have learnt something--but not the lesson you wished me to learn. I
have learnt that such a life as yours, such a nature as yours, brings
desolation upon every life and nature within its influence, and that it
would be a happier fate for me to drop down dead this minute than
live as you have lived, a torture to all around you.'
I knew that I was striking him hard with every word I uttered, but
I would not spare him. I ransacked my mind to hurt him.
'And you, mother,' I said pitilessly, do you think you are just to me
in pleading for him, and in disguising the opinion you have of him?
When, knowing that all my hopes were set on Jessie, and that it was
impossible for her and him to live happily in the same house, I
proposed to make a home elsewhere where we could live in
happiness without him, did you show your love for me by saying that
we must never leave him, and that, wherever our home was, he
must share it? When he told us his story, for the purpose, as I now
see, of setting us more and more against Jessie, and I asked you
afterwards if you would like me to look on things as he does, what
was your answer? "God forbid!" you said; "it would take all the
sweetness out of your life."' (Uncle Bryan removed his hand from his
eyes at this, and raised them for one moment to my mother's white
face; there was no reproach in them, but a look of humble grateful
affection.) 'In what was Jessie wrong that she should have been
driven from us? In wishing him to go to church with us? Ask your
own heart, mother, for an answer to that, and remember what
occurred on the first Sunday night we were in this house. If I had
known then what I know now, I would have starved rather than
have accepted the shelter of his roof. Remember how, for days and
weeks together, Jessie has been submissive and tender to him,
striving by every means in her power to win his affection; and
remember how her efforts were received and rewarded. But for him
Jessie might have been my wife; you loved her, and she loved you.
How often have you told me that you saw nothing in her but what
was good! I think at one time she would have consented to share
my lot, but that dream is over now. There was an influence strong
enough to turn love into hate, and to poison all our lives. I will
remember that to my dying day, which I hope may not be far off. I
have nothing worth living for. But one thing I am resolved upon--that
while I live, those who love me shall choose between me and him.'
'Are you mad?' she cried. 'Learn the lesson you want to teach
others. Look at your mother.'
'What I did,' moaned my mother, 'I did for the best. I prayed and
hoped that time would set all things right. I see now that it was
impossible, and that I was a weak foolish woman. But I loved you,
my darling, and I would shed my heart's blood for you. What sin
have I committed that I should be punished by the loss of my dear
child's love?'
'No, no, mother,' I cried remorsefully, 'you must not say that. You
have not lost it. God forbid that it should ever be so!'
I think she did not hear me, for she slid from my arms and knelt
before me, imploring me with sobs and broken words to forgive her.
Many minutes passed before I succeeded in calming her, and then
Josey West and I assisted her upstairs to her room, to the room
which Jessie had made bright by her innocent devices.
'Yes, dear child,' she said, with a smile so sad and sweet as to
bring the tears into my eyes.
'Jessie,' I said.
'I know now,' she replied, with a look of distress. 'Jessie has
gone.'
'I will do anything you tell me, my darling child,' she said humbly.
'First I will go and send a doctor to you. Then I want to try and
find Jessie.'
'Dear child, do you know where she is?'
'No; and I have no hope of inducing her to return. I know she will
never come back, but I cannot rest without doing something. I shall
go mad if I stop in the house all night and make no effort to discover
her.'
'Go, then, dear child,' she said; and added imploringly, You will
come back, my darling, will you not? You will not desert me after all
these years?'
'How can you think it, mother? I will come back, but it may be
late.'
'I will keep awake for you, my darling. Say nothing more to your
uncle. Promise me that, dear child.'
'I'll stop with your mother, if you must go. Run round to my house
first, and say I sha'n't be home to-night. And look here. If Turk's
there, you'd best take him with you. I suppose you are going to Mr.
Rackstraw's?
'Of course you know the office will be closed; but I daresay it will
relieve your feelings to thump at the door.' She spoke fretfully; but
her tone changed when she said, 'Don't think only of yourself. Have
some thought for your mother.'
'Not the slightest,' she replied. 'And you didn't know she was
going away?'
'I had no more idea of it than you had.'
'A little while ago, when Jessie was there, and I was not. Did he
pay her great attention?'
I kissed my mother, and left the room. Her loving eyes followed
me to the door.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
'Like a true friend as you are. The subject I want to talk about is
spelt with four letters--s-e-l-f. Such a subject needs no overture; up
with the curtain, then. I start with a self-evident proposition. A man
must live. What do you say to that?'
'Very well, then. To live, one must have money; to have money
(barring the silver spoon), one must work for it. Granted?'
'No, Turk.'
'Heart?'
'I will tell you about it presently, Turk. Go on with your own story
first.'
'You have one who stands for a host. If she were such a friend to
me, I wouldn't call the king my uncle.'
'She!'
'I see you must hear it. Briefly, then, this was the way of it. The
business was for sale, Chris, my boy. Money had to be paid for it--
not much, but too much for a poor actor whose purse has always
resembled a sieve. I had saved a little, but not more than half what
was required for the purchase of the goodwill. I mention this in the
presence of these friends of yours----'
I interrupted him.
'There is more in this than meets the eye,' he said; and added,
somewhat unnecessarily as I thought, 'Bear with me a little while,
Chris, my boy,' for I felt that such a request more properly belonged
to me than to him. But he explained his meaning presently.
'You have given me your confidence, Chris, my boy, and you want
me to stand by you.'
'And I will stand by you, as you have stood by me--I don't forget
the big stick you bought, Chris, to assist me on a certain eventful
night'--(here I was stung reproachfully by the remembrance of my
cowardly behaviour on that night); 'nor other occasions at the Royal
Columbia when you led the applause like a true friend. I'll stand by
you, my boy, but you must first hear my confession.'
'No words can express its strength and depth, Turk,' I said, in a
tone of gloomy satisfaction.
'No; I won't say that. I think that some one whom I know is good
enough' (he pressed my arm sympathisingly); 'and besides, you
have a claim upon her. You mustn't be surprised or hurt at my loving
her, Chris; I could mention half a dozen others who are in the same
boat. You see, one can't help loving her, she is so bright and
winsome. Why, if she were mine--which she isn't, and never will be--
I think I should take a pride in knowing it, for it would make her all
the more precious to me. That is how the matter stands with me,
Chris, and I think it's right that you should know it. I give her up, not
without a pang, my boy, but freely; I am used to disappointments,
and I shall bear this as I have borne others.'
'But you never had any hope, Turk,' I said, disposed, after his
magnanimous conduct, to argue the matter with him.
'No, not to speak of,' he replied, with a melancholy sigh. 'If I can't
be Jessie's lover--don't be angry with me for using the word--I can
be her friend, and yours. It rests with you to say the word. If you
know enough of Turk West to trust him, say so, Chris, and he
pledges himself to act faithfully in your interest. He may be of more
use to you than you imagine. Well?'
'I should be an ungrateful brute not to say that I accept your offer
thankfully, Turk.'
'That's settled, then. Shake hands on it. And now, Chris, we'll be
silent for just two minutes, and then we'll go into the matter.'
'I said that there was more in your story than meets the eye,
Chris, my boy; and there is. Jessie disappears on your birthday,
suddenly, without any forewarning. This morning everything was
nice and pleasant with all of you at home.'
'I don't forget it, but then he is the same as he usually is, and
there's nothing unusual in that. She is affectionate to you; she is
affectionate to your mother; and I think that she couldn't have
avoided seeing that there was to be a little celebration of her
birthday to-night. Well, it is plain to me that this morning she had no
idea of going away. Now what has occurred since this morning to
cause this sudden change in her? That's the first thing to consider.'
I could not think of anything. Jessie had not been out of our
house.
'There's something I have not told you, Turk, but I don't see what
it can have to do with Jessie's going from us. We were talking
together once, when Jessie said that she wondered that I had never
asked her any questions about herself--she meant about herself
before she came to live with us. I answered that mother had desired
me not to do so, because uncle Bryan might not like it.'
'I don't know, but mother said he might have secrets which he
would not wish us to discover. When I told this to Jessie, she said
that she had a secret, but didn't then know what it was. It was in a
letter which she was not to open until she was eighteen years of
age--until to-day. Then she said she would tell me everything.'
But I could not agree with him. Eager as I was to receive any
impressions which would divert my suspicions from the current in
which they were running, I could not see the slightest connection
between the circumstance I had just mentioned and Jessie's
absence. By this time we were at Temple Bar.
Turk shook his head. 'There are two strong reasons against the
realisation of that expectation, Chris. First, Jessie has not been there
to-day, according to your own statement; second, Mr. Rackstraw's
office closes at five o'clock.'
'Well?'
'Well?' I echoed, irritated at his seeming discouragement of my
plan. 'Turk, can't you see that I'm almost mad with misery. I thought
you were a friend----'
'Oh, I don't care about myself. I have a stronger reason for being
angry with you. Who of we two should be Jessie's champion? You, I
should say. Yet I am obliged to defend her from your suspicions. If
you were ten years older than you are, I should quarrel with you,
Chris; I would with any other man who dared to say a word against
her.'
'What if he has? Is that her fault? Aren't you old enough yet to
know that there are hundreds of men always ready to run after a
pretty girl? Now, I daresay it has hurt you to hear that Mr. Glover
has helped me into my new business because Jessie expressed a
wish that she had a friend who would assist me. Why, what was
more natural than that she should say so, out of her kind heart, and
what was more natural than that he should be glad of the
opportunity of obliging her, and of doing a fair stroke of business at
the same time? It isn't a large sum that he advances--a matter of
seventy-five pounds only, and he has a bill of sale, and goodness
knows what, all for security. Now you are better satisfied perhaps. I
can't say that I am over-fond of Mr. Glover, but he is said to be an
honourable, straightforward man. I'll tell you what I'll do, if you must
see him----'
'I don't know where he lives, but I'll take you to a theatre that he
often pops into of an evening; he may be there. The acting-manager
is one of my new friends, and will pass us in, I daresay, or will be
able to tell us if Mr. Glover is in the theatre.'
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
The friend to whom Turk referred was, fortunately for us, in the
lobby of the theatre, and as the two were engaged in conversation,
the man I came to seek lounged towards us. He seemed surprised to
see me, but approached me quite affably, and asked what I was
doing in his part of the world so late in the night. I made some sort
of awkward, bungling answer, and then he recognised Turk.
'You, too, Turk,' he said in his slow way; 'but that is natural, for
these are your quarters now. Let me see. You take possession to-
morrow?'
'Yes,' Turk answered, everything was settled, and he went into his
new place of business early in the morning.
'And how is business with you?' asked Mr. Glover, directing his
attention to me again.
'You did not come out for business. For pleasure, then. Well,
young men will be young men.'
'I came out partly for the purpose and in the hope of seeing you.'
With his hand playing with his moustache, he looked not at me,
but at Turk, for an explanation. Turk, however, had nothing to say.
'You came out for the purpose and in the hope of seeing me. Yes.
Have you brought me any message?'
'Did I expect one? No, I cannot really say that I did; but I should
not have been surprised. Go on,' he said, with gentle
encouragement.
'I have not come to beg any favour of you, sir. I only came to ask-
---'
'Take time--take time,' said Mr. Glover, outwardly quite at his ease.
'Perhaps, Mr. Glover,' said Turk, 'if you would not mind regarding
what passes as confidential, and not to be mentioned to any one
else, Christopher would be more at his ease.'
'I know the subject he wishes to speak upon--but I was not aware
of it when I first came out with him to-night.'
'I have not come to make any communication,' I said; 'I have only
come to ask a question. I can speak more freely now, as you are a
gentleman, and as what I say will not reach her ears.' (His lips
repeated 'Her ears,' but he did not repeat the words aloud.) 'It is
about Miss Trim'----
'You have not answered mine,' he replied. 'I ask you why you put
it to me?'
'My sister Josey was invited, to please Jessie, and Chris had a
little present to give her----'
'We have one ready,' responded Turk. 'Without warning, and most
strangely and suddenly, Jessie leaves her home. Her friends suppose
she has gone out for a walk, and are waiting for her with
uneasiness, which grows stronger as the time goes on and Jessie
does not return. While they are waiting, a letter comes----'
I had been watching Mr. Glover's face all the time Turk was
speaking, but it was impossible for me to decide whether he was
acting or not. The only change I observed in him occurred during
Turk's last words; then a little light came into his eyes, which might
have been construed into an expression of triumph.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
A NEW FEAR.
'I know, I know, old fellow,' he said, shaking hands with me; 'but
you might count me as nobody. Never mind, Chris, my boy, you
won't find many better friends than Turk West; and he's not to be
shaken off, let me tell you.'
I reflected with bitterness that I had not one friend who thought
as I thought. Everybody was against me, and I was distrusted and
misunderstood even by those who should have held to me most
closely. I walked for miles out of my way, almost blindly, seeing
nothing, hearing nothing, feeling nothing, but my own despair and
grief. The streets were very still as I approached our house, and I
lingered about the spots where Jessie and I had lingered and talked
in the days that were gone.
Josey West opened the door for me. Her face was very grave.
'I have heard nothing, Josey. She has not come home?'
'No.'
'Why don't you and those who were my friends say what you
think of me?' I demanded bitterly. 'Why don't you say at once that I
am to blame for all that has occurred, and that I, and I only, am the
cause of all this misery?'
'I don't say so,' she replied gently, 'because I don't think so.'
'But you look at me as if it were so,' I said loudly; 'you and all the
others. You have fair words and fair excuses for every one but me---
-'
She placed her fingers on her lips. 'Hush!' she said; 'don't be cruel
as well as unjust.'
Her hand was on my arm, and I shook it off roughly. 'Who is the
just one? Uncle Bryan? I will talk to you no more. How is mother?'
'Go up and see; but tread softly. You are not the only sufferer--
remember that.'
'Mother,' I said.
She opened her eyes and looked at me vacantly. She did not
know me; even when I took her hand, and fondled it in mine, she
showed no sign of recognition. Then a feeling of desolation, more
terrible than any pain I had yet suffered, entered my heart, and I fell
on my knees by her side. Was I to lose her next? It seemed so. Her
white pitiful face, her parched restless lips, her mournful eyes gazing
on vacancy, her hot skin, were like so many tongues reproaching me
for my selfishness.
'For God's sake tell me, Josey,' I whispered, 'how long has she
been like this?'
'The change came a little while after the doctor left. She bore up
while he was here, and tried to answer him cheerfully; but when he
was gone, she broke down.'
'What about?'
'Only about you, Chris; but I cannot tell you what she said. They
were only broken words of tenderness----' Josey turned from me,
and could not continue for her tears.
I knocked at his door, and called him again and again; but I got
no answer.'
'I must run for the doctor. Will you stop here?'
'I'll stop, Chris, and do all I can to help you.'
I pressed her hand, and within half an hour the doctor was at my
mother's bedside. I waited below until he came down.
'If you will walk back with me,' he said, will give you some
medicine for your mother.'
'Very.'
'I think not--I think not; but we must be prepared for the worst.'
He said something more than this, but I did not hear him. A mist
stole upon my senses, for his quiet tone portended the worst. 'Bear
up, Mr. Carey,' he said; 'you must not give way. We will do our best.
A great deal will depend upon good nursing. That is a sensible little
woman who is with her now.'
'I was about to ask you that question Mr. Carey,' was his reply. 'All
that I know at present is that she is in a high state of fever, that her
blood is thin and poor, and that she is as weak as a human being
dare be who requires strength to battle successfully with disease. It
appears to me that she must have been suffering for some time, for
a very long time probably--but I am in the dark as to that--and that
she has at length given way. If you put upon a beam a pressure
greater than it can bear, the beam must break.'
The mind has acted upon the body. Hard physical work itself
seldom, if ever, kills. In the case of this beam----you follow me?'
'Yes sir.'
'In the case of this beam, there have been secret inroads upon its
power of resistance, and the wood has rotted. I have seen stout
planks cut through, and colonies of little insects bared to the light
which have been steadily and surely eating away its strength. I am
speaking plainly, because I think it is the best course in all these
cases, and when I am speaking to a sensible man.'
'Thank you, sir; I should prefer to hear the truth, terrible though
it be.'
'A great trouble has come upon us within the last few hours.'
'Quite, sir.'
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