s
real meaning? And is Una any the less moral because she chooses to be
unconventional? Una! I'd stake my life on her morality and innate
refinement. No girl sacrifices her youth in the interests of others
less fortunate than herself without being fine clear through. Then
what did Marcia mean? And what could Una mean when she said her
reputation was in danger? The very thought of my having harmed her,
even by imputation, in the minds of others makes me desperately
unhappy. And what, what on earth could Marcia suspect of me or of Una
to place us both in so false a light? What could Marcia mean in
speaking in that way about Una's visit here when she herself came--"
He bit the word off abruptly and came to a stop. Some instinct--some
baser instinct that Marcia was a part of, made frankness impossible. I
could have finished his sentence for him but I didn't. Instead, I
rose suddenly to a sitting posture, my tongue loosened.

"Bah!" I muttered. "The spleen of a jealous woman; it stops
nowhere--at nothing!"

"But what was there in the story," he persisted, "to cause so much
tension? I felt it in the air, Roger. It was in the looks of those
about me, in Una's face. She was troubled. I had to speak."

"You did well, Jerry. You had to speak--to defend her--"

"Against what?"

"The results of her own imprudence," I said slowly, feeling my way
with difficulty. "Una's visits here and at the cabin were not what are
called conventional."

"Conventional! Perhaps not. But where does the question of morality
come in?" he went on boring straight at the mark.

"It doesn't," I remarked calmly. "It seems to me that Una's reply was
quite clear upon that point."

He frowned. "Yes, but she said that Marcia's mind wasn't clean, or
that's what she meant. That's a terrible thing to say and Una
shouldn't have said it. She shouldn't have, Roger."

"She had to defend herself," I muttered. "That's the privilege of the
poorest beast of the woods."

"Yes," he said slowly, "but it has upset me, given me a new view of
things, of women, of life. What is this terrible thing that threatens
them, that they fear and court at the hands of men? They act it in
their advances and sudden defenses. I've learned that much--Even
Una--Why, Roger, there's something that they're more jealous of than
they are of life itself. Reputation! That's what Una called it.
Una--who's giving up her life to try to make people better! If a girl
like Una has to defend he