girl, like that girl up at Bluff Head! I am as good as she!"

"My God!" Thornly looked at the bowed head, that sank again beneath the
waves of passion. His eyes grew dim and his face paled. His soul had
answered and had passed judgment that gave him grace to breathe freely!

"Janet," he said gently, "my poor girl! I am going to wait by the door
until you get out of the net and into your shoes; then come to me. I
have much, much to say to you." He did not offer, by thought or motion,
to assist her. He turned and sat guard by the open door, puffing
vigorously at his pipe.

Janet disentangled herself and put on her stockings and shoes. Then,
shod and with a strange dignity, she crossed the room and stood beside
the man, leaning against the jamb of the door for support.

Thornly looked up and smiled; then he shook the ashes from his pipe,
placed it in his pocket, and offered Janet his stool. She shook her
head.

"I'll sit on the sand," she said, and sank down outside the door.

"My poor Janet," Thornly began, "I do not know what to say. I want to
make you understand and I am afraid I may make further mistakes. I see I
have wronged you. In a sense, I've been a bungling fool; but as true as
God hears me, I didn't want you upon my canvas for any low or mean
reason. I swear that as truly as I ever spoke. It seemed my right to
make live what I saw in you. Maybe it was not my right--I begin to fear
it was not--but it seemed so at first. I don't know how to say it, but
somewhere I have read a thought like this. When an artist enters his
studio he hangs up his passions with his coat and hat. You won't
understand that. No woman can, perhaps, and not many men; but it's true
as surely as heaven hears me! and it accounts for a deal of good as well
as bad! That is the way I felt. I was greedy to catch you as I saw you.
I wanted no one to share the triumph. I never thought of women like
Katharine or men like Mr. Devant. I did think of the Quinton folks, and
that is the only reason I locked the door! Please try and believe that,
my dear girl! If I had one unselfish thought, it was for you and for
your people, not for the others like those at Bluff Head. I could have
told them all about it when my pictures were hung at the Academy; and
that would have ended it."

The girl upon the sands sat with hands clasped around her knees. Her
dark, clear eyes never wavered from the speaker's face, and Thornly saw
trust and a growing calm rising