with bitterness, "I am not unreasonable. I
do not match white with black. The dyer's hand accepts the hue it works
in. I'll not win rest, forgiveness, sleep! But, by God, I'll keep what
men care for. I'll keep strength and reputation, name, and room to work
a lever in! Ay, and I'll not endure the world to say, 'This was his
friend, and that his lover; look how they are stained!' O God, O God!"

She put her arms around him. "There is no stain! I will forever love
you. Love casts off soil as it casts out fear. Will you not come with
me--and tell them?"

He sat for some minutes, still in her clasp, then, leaning forward, took
her face in his hands and kissed her on the brow. "No!" he said, with
finality.

Another moment and he arose. "I am hungry. I have not eaten since
daybreak. As for sleep--I don't know when I slept. It is not only the
darkness of the storm; it is growing late. I think that we will hear
nothing to-night. We will sleep, and I need it." He moved to a table and
took up the pair of holsters which, on entering, he had laid there In a
corner of the room stood a heavy chest of drawers. He placed the
holsters in one of these, locked the drawer, and withdrew the key. "I'll
think that out," he muttered, "just as soon as may be," then turned
again to his wife. "I'll go now and get some meat and wine. Stay here by
the fire, Jacqueline, and try to see that all this must be fought, and
fought as I have said! Think of yourself, and think of Deb, Unity, your
uncles--at last you will come to see that there is no other way."

He was gone. Jacqueline dragged herself from the chair to the hearth,
sank down before the glowing logs, and saw at once a picture of the
river road.

* * * * *

She had been lying throughout the night almost without motion, but
toward three o'clock he was aware that she had left the bed. A moment,
and he heard the tap of her slippers across the polished floor of the
chamber, the hail, and the dining-room. She paused, he could tell, at
the sideboard; when, presently, she slipped again into bed, she was
trembling violently. He turned and put his arms about her. "I am so
cold," she said. "It is cold indoors and out-of-doors."

"I have brought you misery," he answered, and then lay in silence.

They heard the clock ticking, and the sighing of the branches after the
storm. For awhile she was quiet within his clasp, then the shuddering
recommenced. He arose, put on