says does not alter the case so much after all. It
can't free me of my responsibility. If I hadn't driven him, Gregory
would not have gone to her."

"You consider that in itself a very dreadful thing?"

Agatha looked at Mrs. Hastings with suddenly lifted head. "Of course,"
she answered. "Can you doubt it?"

Mrs. Hastings laughed, though there was a little gleam in her eyes, for
this was an opportunity for which she had been waiting.

"Then," she said, "you spoke like an Englishwoman--of station--just out
from the Old Country--but I'm going to try to disabuse you of one
impression. Sally, to put it crudely, is quite good enough for Gregory.
In fact, if she had been my daughter I'd have kept him away from her. To
begin with, once you strip Gregory of his little surface graces, and his
clean English intonation, how does he compare with the men you meet out
here? What does his superiority consist of? Is he truer or kinder than
you have found most of them to be? Has he a finer courage, or a more
resolute endurance--a greater capacity for labor, or a clearer knowledge
of the calling by which he makes his living?"

Agatha did not answer. She could not protest that Gregory possessed any
of these qualities, and Mrs. Hastings continued:

"Has he even a more handsome person? I could point to a dozen men
between here and the railroad, whose clean, self-denying lives have set
a stamp on them that Gregory will never wear. To descend to perhaps the
lowest point of all, has he more money? We know he wasted what he
had--probably in indulgence--and there is a mortgage on his farm. Has he
any sense of honor? He let Sally believe he was in love with her before
you even came out here, and of late, while he still claimed you, he has
gone back to her. Can't you get away from your point of view, and
realize what kind of a man he is?"

Agatha turned her head away. "Ah!" she cried, "I realized him--several
months ago. They were painful months to me. But you are quite sure he
was in love with Sally before I came out?"

"Well," Mrs. Hastings declared, "his conduct suggested it." She laid a
caressing hand on the girl's shoulder. "You tried to keep faith with
him. Tried desperately, I think. Did you succeed?"

Agatha contrived to meet the older woman's eyes.

"At least, I would have married him."

"Then," asserted Mrs. Hastings, "I can forgive Gregory even his
treachery, and you have no cause to pity him. Sally is simple--primitive,
you