from this time, his name is
not to be spoken in my presence."

Helen's face had grown slowly whiter. "Oh, you will not understand!" she
said hoarsely; but he interrupted her.

"I am sorry for you, my darling. Oh, what a blow this would have been for
your mother! Poor Mary felt any family trouble so deeply. But you must be
a woman, you must bear it bravely. Yes, your marriage with this fanatic
was a terrible mistake, but we must bear it."

Helen shook her head; she could not speak. She had not known that she had
hoped anything from her uncle's visit, but this final despair almost
over-powered her.

"He thinks you are going to change your mind in a week or two," he went
on. "I'd say he was insane if he were not so cruel! There is too much
method in his madness. There! I cannot speak of it; let us drop the
subject. Your place in my heart is secure; I trust you will never leave
me; but on this one topic we cannot meet." Then with a sudden tenderness,
"Oh, Helen, how hard this is for you! You must try to forgive him,--I
cannot."

"Forgive him?" she said, almost in a whisper, her beautiful eyes dilating
and her lips white. "Oh, John, how I have wronged you, if they think I
have anything to forgive!"

Dr. Howe looked at her, and seemed to swallow a sob; then he opened his
arms, and, drawing her head down on his shoulder, "Poor child," he said,
"poor child!"

But this softening on his part met no response from Helen. "You do not
understand John," she said, "and so--so please do not think about me."

The rebuff sent the rector back to his own resentment. "Remember, I do
not wish to speak of him again, Helen. I have nothing more to say."

Nor would he say more to Lois and Mrs. Dale than that John Ward was
inflexible, and he wished no further discussion upon the subject; he also
forbade any urging that Helen should return to her husband.

"Well, but, brother, what explanation shall we give of her being here?"
asked Mrs. Dale anxiously.

"I'm sure I don't know," he answered impatiently; "anything but the
truth."

"Why, Archibald!" his sister cried, in a shocked tone.

"Oh, well, you know what I mean," he said; "make some sort of an excuse.
Of course, don't say anything which is untrue, but don't tell people our
private affairs."

"Do you think she'll ever go back to him?" Mrs. Dale inquired, looking at
him meditatively over her glasses.

"I hope not!" he said savagely. "Now stop, Adele, stop! I will not
discuss