m
his wife. I neither deny this, nor have ever sought to escape from its
obligations. To me, the vows of marriage were sacred when first
assumed; they remain no less sacred now. This man is fully aware of
how I feel in this regard; he knows I have proved true in spirit and
letter to my vows; he knows exactly why I am not living with him; why I
am earning my own living in the world; why I am here in this position
to-day. He knows it all, I say, because the desertion was his, not
mine; and his present deliberate, cowardly attempt to besmirch my
character by doing an injury to another is an unbearable insult, an
outrage more serious than if he had struck me a physical blow. The one
I might forgive, as I have before forgiven, but the other is beyond the
limits of pardon, if I would retain my own self-respect. I am a woman,
an honorable woman, and my reputation is more to me than life."

She paused, breathing heavily, her head flung back, Her hands clenched
as though in desperate effort at self-control.

"You--you!" the words seemed fairly forced from between her lips,
"there has never been a time when I would not have gone to you at a
word, at your slightest expressed desire. However I may have despised
you in my secret heart, I remained loyal outwardly, and would have gone
to you in response to the call of duty. There is no such duty now.
You have openly insulted and degraded me; you have accused me before
the world; you have dragged my name in the muck; you have attempted to
dethrone my womanhood. The past is over; it is over forever. The law
may continue to hold me as your wife, but I am not your wife. The
records of the church may so name me, but they are false. A God of
love could never have linked me to such a brute--the very thought is
infamy. Do not touch me! Do not speak to me! I believe I could kill
you easier than I could ever again yield to you so much as a word."

She reeled as though about to fall, her hand pressed against her heart.
Before an arm could be out-stretched in support, she had rallied, and
turned away. With head lowered, her face shadowed by her hair she
walked slowly toward the cabin. No man in the group stirred until she
had disappeared. Then the sheriff fumblingly replaced his hat, his
eyes wandering in uncertainty from Farnham to Winston.

"By God!" he exclaimed, as though in relief, catching his breath
quickly and wiping his forehead. "By God! but that was fierce."
Reca