"Good night," said I finally, as if I were taking leave of a formal
acquaintance at the end of a formal call.

She did not answer. I left the room, closing the door behind me. I paused
an instant, heard the key click in the lock. And I burned in a hot flush of
shame that she should be thinking thus basely of me--and with good cause.
How could she know, how appreciate even if she had known? "You've had to
cut deep," said I to myself. "But the wounds'll heal, though it may take
long--very long." And I went on my way, not wholly downcast.

I joined Monson in my little smoking-room. "Congratulate you," he began,
with his nasty, supercilious grin, which of late had been getting on my
nerves severely.

"Thanks," I replied curtly, paying no attention to his outstretched hand.
"I want you to put a notice of the marriage in to-morrow morning's
_Herald_."

"Give me the facts--clergyman's name--place, and so on," said he.

"Unnecessary," I answered. "Just our names and the date--that's all. You'd
better step lively. It's late, and it'll be too late if you delay."

With an irritating show of deliberation he lit a fresh cigarette before
setting out. I heard her maid come. After about an hour I went into the
hall--no light through the transoms of her suite. I returned to my own part
of the flat and went to bed in the spare room to which Sanders had moved my
personal belongings. That day which began in disaster--in what a blaze of
triumph it had ended! Anita--my wife, and under my roof! I slept with good
conscience. I had earned sleep.

XXIII. "SHE HAS CHOSEN!"

Joe got to the office rather later than usual the next morning. They told
him I was already there, but he wouldn't believe it until he had come into
my private den and with his own eyes had seen me. "Well, I'm jiggered!"
said he. "It seems to have made less impression on you than it did on us.
My missus and the little un wouldn't let me go to bed till after two. They
sat on and on, questioning and discussing."

I laughed--partly because I knew that Joe, like most men, was as full of
gossip and as eager for it as a convalescent old maid, and that, whoever
might have been the first at his house to make the break for bed, he was
the last to leave off talking. But the chief reason for my laugh was that,
just before he came in on me, I was almost pinching myself to see whether I
was dreaming it all, and he had made me feel how vividly true it was.

"Why don't you