ther's ranch was playing to hard luck. But don't think I
married him for his money--I liked him then, and, besides--well, I
_thought_ I was doing the right thing--but now--well, I'm guessing." She
ended abruptly, and in the tremor of that final word Moss read her
secret. She had never loved her husband. Pity and a kind of loyalty to
her word had carried her to his side, and now a sense of duty bound her
there.

With sincere sympathy, he said: "We all do wrong at times that good may
come out of it. You could not foresee the future--the best of us can
_only guess_ at the effect of any action. You did the best you knew at
the moment. The question you have to face now has only slight relation
to the past. No one can enter wholly into another's perplexity--I'm not
even sure of a single one of my inferences--but if you are thinking
of--separation, I would say, meet this crisis as bravely as you met the
other. But I don't believe we should decide any such question selfishly.
I am not of those who always seek the side on which lies personal
happiness, because a happiness that is essentially selfish won't last.
The Captain lives only for you--any one can see that. What he does for
you springs from deep affection. What would happen to him--if you left
him?"

He paused a moment and watched her subduing her tears; then added: "I
won't say I was unprepared for what you've said, for the entire
relationship, from our first meeting, seemed too abnormal to be
altogether happy. Money will buy a great many desirable things, but it
has its limits. At the same time, it is too much to expect of you--If
your feeling for him has changed--"

His delicacy, his sympathy for her, was made apparent by the unusual
hesitation of his speech, and she would have broken down completely had
not Julia Moss called out: "Joe, turn on the lights--it's getting dark."

Conscious of Bertha's emotion, he did not immediately do as he was
bidden. "I wish you'd talk this over with Julia," he ended gently;
"she's a very wise little woman."

Bertha shook her head. "I didn't intend to talk it over with you. I
don't know what possessed me. I had no business to say what I did."

He reassured her. "All you've told me and the part I've guessed is quite
safe. I will not even permit Julia to share your confidence till you are
willing to speak to her yourself."

As he slowly lighted the studio Bertha was surprised and a little
troubled to find that two or three other