this morning?"

Jim moistened his lips once and said, "Yes." The word was barely
audible.

"Then there is no need to tell you I have made up my mind to go with
Frank."

Her tone was coldly final. Woods had turned and was again gazing out
of the window. Jim looked at Helen with the eyes of a hound-dog. My
heart ached for him, but there was nothing I could do.

"Why did you come back?" Jim almost whispered, keeping his eyes
directly on her face.

"Because I didn't want a scandal." She glanced down at her lap where
she was opening and closing a beaded vanity bag. Evidently she was
finding the interview harder than she had expected.

"I felt--I hoped that if I could show you definitely and finally that I
don't love you, that I am devoted to Frank, your pride, if nothing
else, would induce you to give me the divorce for which I asked. That
is the reason we decided to come back--so you might make it possible
for us to marry without a scandal."

The gross selfishness of the woman--I could hardly think of her as my
sister--her cold cruelty, yes, even her damnable beauty, seemed to go
to my head and something snapped inside. I couldn't bear the sight of
Jim standing there helpless, while these two turned the knife.

"That was very considerate of you," I sneered.

"You keep out of this, Warren!"

"I'm damned if I do," I retorted. "I at least have a brother's right
to tell you that a man who will sneak into another's home to make love
to his wife, behind his back, and then----"

Woods turned quickly. "That's a lie, and you know it."

Jim put his hand on my shoulder. He knew I was ready to fight.

"Don't, Bupps!"

Suddenly he seemed to straighten into life. From the way he set his
jaw, I knew that the old courage, which had won so many cases in the
court-room, was back on the job.

"You were quite right, Helen. While I imagine your reason for not
wanting a scandal was largely selfish, yet I think that consideration
for my position was partly responsible for your return, and for that I
thank you. When you asked for a divorce the other night, I didn't
realize that your love for me was so entirely dead, or that you had
fallen so completely under this man's influence. Under the
circumstances, I shall give you a divorce, if only to keep you from
taking matters into your own hands. But I shall not do it until I have
satisfied myself that your new love is real, that the man is worthy of
it. If there i