ltations had loved her. She had never taken him
very seriously but none the less it had been very sweet to know his
whole universe depended upon the nod of her head, and that her
influence over him had been so potent, had kept him clean and loyal and
honest.

And after this Corthell and Jadwin had come into her life, the artist
and the man of affairs. She remembered Corthell's quiet, patient,
earnest devotion of those days before her marriage. He rarely spoke to
her of his love, but by some ingenious subtlety he had filled her whole
life with it. His little attentions, his undemonstrative solicitudes
came precisely when and where they were most appropriate. He had never
failed her. Whenever she had needed him, or even, when through caprice
or impulse she had turned to him, it always had been to find that long
since he had carefully prepared for that very contingency. His
thoughtfulness of her had been a thing to wonder at. He remembered for
months, years even, her most trivial fancies, her unexpressed dislikes.
He knew her tastes, as if by instinct; he prepared little surprises for
her, and placed them in her way without ostentation, and quite as
matters of course. He never permitted her to be embarrassed; the little
annoying situations of the day's life he had smoothed away long before
they had ensnared her. He never was off his guard, never disturbed,
never excited.

And he amused her, he entertained her without seeming to do so. He made
her talk; he made her think. He stimulated and aroused her, so that she
herself talked and thought with a brilliancy that surprised herself. In
fine, he had so contrived that she associated him with everything that
was agreeable.

She had sent him away the first time, and he had gone without a murmur;
only to come back loyal as ever, silent, watchful, sympathetic, his
love for her deeper, stronger than before, and--as always
timely--bringing to her a companionship at the moment of all others
when she was most alone.

Now she had driven him from her again, and this time, she very well
knew, it was to be forever. She had shut the door upon this great love.

Laura stirred abruptly in her place, adjusting her hair with nervous
fingers.

And, last of all, it had been Jadwin, her husband. She rose and went to
the window, and stood there a long moment, looking off into the night
over the park. It was warm and very still. A few carriage lamps
glimpsed among the trees like fireflies. A