feet, every muscle tense.

"No, I can't see both points of view," he said hoarsely. "I can see
only her point of view, what she is, what she meant to do for you, what
she gave you"--

"What she gave me!" Emmet echoed, springing to his feet in turn. "Hold
on, professor. Be fair to a man. She gave me nothing that a wife
should give, I tell you, nothing! She left me at the very door of the
church and went off alone"--

"What!" Leigh cried. His revulsion of feeling was so great that he
tottered and leaned against the wall for support. Only one thought
possessed him, that she was not in reality this man's wife, after all.
In the face of her desertion, the mere words of the marriage ceremony
were as nothing.

"Why, man," he said, taking Emmet suddenly by the shoulder, as if he
would shake a comprehension of his words into him, "you're not married,
before God you're not married. What priestcraft notion has gotten hold
of you? I tell you it's all a mistake. You've both made a
mistake--and you've both found it out. Do you suppose, if she really
loved you, she would have gone away like that, without giving you a
chance to explain? If you really loved her, would you have kissed the
first pretty girl that came in your way? I help you to win her back!
Get her back yourself, if you can. I hope you can't do it. I don't
wish you the luck you don't deserve. Don't come to me with your
troubles!"

Emmet wrenched himself violently away and stood aghast.

"You love her yourself," he said, in a voice of wonder.

"And if I do," Leigh retorted defiantly, "what is that to you?"

"Nothing," Emmet answered, "nothing." And turning like one stupefied,
he walked slowly away without another word.

CHAPTER XIII

FURNITURE AND FAMILY

It was not without a painful self-consciousness that Leigh and Emmet
met again after their strange interview on the tower. In a city of
between fifty and one hundred thousand people, with comparatively few
large arteries of trade, a chance encounter sooner or later was
inevitable. It occurred one afternoon in a large crowd of Christmas
shoppers. Either would have been glad of a forewarning and a chance to
look casually in another direction, but neither was prepared, when they
came face to face, to give the cut direct. Their greeting was scarcely
more than a nod, and showed their mutual constraint. Leigh read in
Emmet's bold eyes a warning such as an injured husband might convey to