What have I to do with it? Did I make their investments? Do you think I
have time to attend to every poor duck? Why don't people look where they
put their money?"

"It's a shame, a burning shame!" she cried, regarding him steadily.

"Oh, yes; no doubt. I lost a hundred thousand yesterday; did I whine
about it? If I want to buy anything in the market, have I got to look
into every tuppenny interest concerned in it? If Mrs. Fletcher or
anybody else has any complaint against me, the courts are open. I defy
the whole pack!" Henderson thundered out, rising and buttoning his
coat--"the whole pack!"

"And you have nothing else to say, Rodney?" Margaret persisted, not
quailing in the least before his indignation. He had never seen her so
before, and he was now too much in a passion to fully heed her.

"Oh, women, women!" he said, taking up his hat, "you have sympathy
enough for anybody but your husbands." He pushed past her, and was gone
without another word or look.

Margaret turned to follow him. She would have cried "Stop!" but the word
stuck in her throat. She was half beside herself with rage for a
moment. But he had gone. She heard the outer door close. Shame and grief
overcame her. She sat down in the chair he had just occupied. It was
infamous the way Mrs. Fletcher was treated. And her husband--her husband
was so regardless of it. If he was not to blame for it, why didn't he
tell her--why didn't he explain? And he had gone away without looking at
her. He had left her for the first time since they were married without
kissing her! She put her head down on the desk and sobbed; it seemed as
if her heart would break. Perhaps he was angry, and wouldn't come back,
not for ever so long.

How cruel to say that she did not sympathize with her husband! How could
he be angry with her for her natural anxiety about her old friend! He
was unjust. There must be something wrong in these schemes, these great
operations that made so many confiding people suffer. Was everybody
grasping and selfish? She got up and walked about the dear room, which
recalled to her only the sweetest memories; she wandered aimlessly about
the lower part of the house. She was wretchedly unhappy. Was her husband
capable of such conduct? Would he cease to love her for what she had
done--for what she must do? How lovely this home was! Everything spoke
of his care, his tenderness, his quickness to anticipate her slightest
wish or whim. It had been all create