s business must come first, he decided. Having settled this
point to his temporary satisfaction, he opened his afternoon paper
and leaned back in his seat, meaning to divert his mind from personal
matters, by learning what was going on in the world at large.

No sooner had his eye scanned the first headline than he was startled by
a boisterous greeting from a fellow traveller, who was just passing down
the aisle.

"Hello, Hardy!" cried his well meaning acquaintance. "Where are you
bound for?"

"Detroit," answered Alfred, annoyed by the sudden interruption.

"Where's the missus?" asked the intruder.

"Chicago," was Alfred's short reply.

"THAT'S a funny thing," declared the convivial spirit, not guessing how
funny it really was. "You know," he continued, so loud that everyone in
the vicinity could not fail to hear him, "the last time I met you two,
you were on your honeymoon--on THIS VERY TRAIN," and with that the
fellow sat himself down, uninvited, by Alfred's side and started on a
long list of compliments about "the fine little girl" who had in his
opinion done Alfred a great favour when she consented to tie herself to
a "dull, money-grubbing chap" like him.

"So," thought Alfred, "this is the way the world sees us." And he began
to frame inaudible but desperate defences of himself. Again he told
himself that he was right; but his friend's thoughtless words had
planted an uncomfortable doubt in his mind, and when he left the
train to drive to his hotel, he was thinking very little about the new
business relations upon which he was entering in Detroit, and very much
about the domestic relations which he had just severed in Chicago.

Had he been merely a "dull money-grubber"? Had he left his wife too much
alone? Was she not a mere child when he married her? Could he not, with
more consideration, have made of her a more understanding companion?
These were questions that were still unanswered in his mind when he
arrived at one of Detroit's most enterprising hotels.

But later, having telephoned to his office and found that several
matters of importance were awaiting his decision, he forced himself to
enter immediately upon his business obligations.

As might have been expected, Alfred soon won the respect and serious
consideration of most of his new business associates, and this in a
measure so mollified his hurt pride, that upon rare occasions he was
affable enough to accept the hospitality of their homes. But