ong to speak thus?"

A single sob shook the slender, bowed figure, the face still hidden.

"Yes," she whispered faintly, "you have hurt me; you have done wrong."

"But why?" he insisted. "Is not my love worthy?"

She lifted her head then, resting one hand against the dishevelled
hair, her eyes misty from tears.

"Worthy? O God, yes! but so useless; so utterly without power."

Winston strode to the window and back again, his hands clenched, the
veins showing across his forehead. Suddenly he dropped upon his knees
beside her, clasping her one disengaged hand within both his own.

"Beth, I refuse to believe," he exclaimed firmly. "Love is never
useless, never without power, either in this world or the next. Tell
me, then, once for all, here before God, do you love me?"

She swept the clinging tears from her lashes, the soft clasp of her
fingers upon his hand unconsciously tightening.

"You may read an answer within my face," she replied, slowly. "It must
be that my eyes tell the truth, although I cannot speak it with my
lips."

"Cannot? In God's name, why?"

She choked, yet the voice did not wholly fail her.

"Because I have no right. I--I am the wife of another."

The head drooped lower, the hair shadowing the face, and Winston, his
lips set and white, stared at her, scarcely comprehending. A moment
later he sprang to his feet, one hand pressed across his eyes, slowly
grasping the full measure of her confession.

"The wife of another!" he burst forth, his voice shaking. "Great God!
You? What other? Farnham?"

The bowed head sank yet lower, as though in mute answer, and his ears
caught the echo of a single muffled sob. Suddenly she glanced up at
him, and then rose unsteadily to her feet clinging to the back of the
chair for support.

"Mr. Winston," her voice strengthening with each word spoken, "it hurts
me to realize that you feel so deeply. I--I wish I might bear the
burden of this mistake all alone. But I cannot stand your contempt, or
have you believe me wholly heartless, altogether unworthy. We--we must
part, now and forever; there is no other honorable way. I tried so
hard to compel you to leave me before; I accepted that engagement at
the Gayety, trusting such an act would disgust you with me. I am not
to blame for this; truly, I am not--no woman could have fought against
Fate more faithfully; only--only I couldn't find sufficient courage to
confess to you the whole truth. Perha