e which she had shown to Hugh;
the temptation was terrible, but she was compelled to shake her head. The
habit of openness and fair dealing would not hold her excused; there was
no other way, she must tell it out. Carefully she went over all the things
that would be lost if this story should be bruited abroad. Jack would be
disgraced, she would be stripped of her influence in the neighbourhood,
slain in the sight of her friends who had fought her battles for her
because they believed in her, stripped of everything which had gone to
make life worth the living, and she would place herself in the power of a
man whose only attitude toward the story might be one of self-righteous
justification. Was it worth the price? Her own words rose up before her,
"Without honesty no other virtue is a virtue at all." Elizabeth pondered a
long time, and again her own words rose up to confront her, "It does not
matter _who_ is wrong, the thing that matters is _what_ is wrong," and for
Elizabeth there was no escape. This had been the philosophy of her life;
she was called upon to stand or fall on that ground. With her head bowed
in acknowledgment, she drew the missive out of its envelope and began to
read:

Dear Elizabeth: This letter will no doubt surprise you, but I
couldn't wait any longer. I might begin by saying that I was homesick
for Jack--which is true--but I'm going to confess that I'm homesick
for you too. Is there still hope? I would have written you long ago,
but I went into things too heavy and lost the money I got for the
cattle--and then I couldn't. It would have looked like asking to come
back to the land. As you know, I mortgaged the home eighty--it hurt
some to do that, knowing you'd have to sign it--and began slower. I
got along very well, but it was terribly tedious, and at last, after
three years of steady work, and no debts, I couldn't wait any longer,
and put half of what I had on the Board of Trade proceedings. _I
won!_ Last Saturday I sold all I had, and now while I can come to you
right, I want to ask if you will take me? Take me quick, if you are
going to, before I do some reckless thing and lose it again. I hear
you have prospered; that was why I had to wait so long. I often think
of dear old Hugh, and his interest in some of the things about the
neighbourhood, and I have been given to see while living in this
rotten hole of a city how much I underestimated the people about us