ully. He watched Jennie wiping her red eyes, and then he said
to himself again, "Well, there is something to her." The woman's
emotion was so deep, so real. "There's no explaining a good woman," he
said to himself.

On the way home, through the wind-swept, dusty streets, he talked
of life in general, Bass and Vesta being present. "Jennie takes things
too seriously," he said. "She's inclined to be morbid. Life isn't as
bad as she makes out with her sensitive feelings. We all have our
troubles, and we all have to stand them, some more, some less. We
can't assume that any one is so much better or worse off than any one
else. We all have our share of troubles."

"I can't help it," said Jennie. "I feel so sorry for some
people."

"Jennie always was a little gloomy," put in Bass.

He was thinking what a fine figure of a man Lester was, how
beautifully they lived, how Jennie had come up in the world. He was
thinking that there must be a lot more to her than he had originally
thought. Life surely did turn out queer. At one time he thought Jennie
was a hopeless failure and no good.

"You ought to try to steel yourself to take things as they come
without going to pieces this way," said Lester finally.

Bass thought so too.

Jennie stared thoughtfully out of the carriage window. There was
the old house now, large and silent without Gerhardt. Just think, she
would never see him any more. They finally turned into the drive and
entered the library. Jeannette, nervous and sympathetic, served tea.
Jennie went to look after various details. She wondered curiously
where she would be when she died.

CHAPTER LII

The fact that Gerhardt was dead made no particular difference to
Lester, except as it affected Jennie. He had liked the old German for
his many sterling qualities, but beyond that he thought nothing of him
one way or the other. He took Jennie to a watering-place for ten days
to help her recover her spirits, and it was soon after this that he
decided to tell her just how things stood with him; he would put the
problem plainly before her. It would be easier now, for Jennie had
been informed of the disastrous prospects of the real-estate deal. She
was also aware of his continued interest in Mrs. Gerald. Lester did
not hesitate to let Jennie know that he was on very friendly terms
with her. Mrs. Gerald had, at first, formally requested him to bring
Jennie to see her, but she never had called herself, and Jennie
un