carried the
humiliation, he did not know. He suddenly felt that the air of the
office was choking him.

He hurried up to what once had been his own room. On his way he could
not but note that much of the house was in disarray, a great packing-up
was in progress; trunks, half-full, stood in the hallways, crates and
cases in a litter of straw encumbered the rooms. The servants came and
went with armfuls of books, ornaments, articles of clothing.

Presley took from his room only a few manuscripts and note-books, and a
small valise full of his personal effects; at the doorway he paused and,
holding the knob of the door in his hand, looked back into the room a
very long time.

He descended to the lower floor and entered the dining-room. Mrs.
Derrick had disappeared. Presley stood for a long moment in front of the
fireplace, looking about the room, remembering the scenes that he had
witnessed there--the conference when Osterman had first suggested the
fight for Railroad Commissioner and then later the attack on Lyman
Derrick and the sudden revelation of that inconceivable treachery. But
as he stood considering these things a door to his right opened and
Hilma entered the room.

Presley came forward, holding out his hand, all unable to believe his
eyes. It was a woman, grave, dignified, composed, who advanced to meet
him. Hilma was dressed in black, the cut and fashion of the gown severe,
almost monastic. All the little feminine and contradictory daintinesses
were nowhere to be seen. Her statuesque calm evenness of contour
yet remained, but it was the calmness of great sorrow, of infinite
resignation. Beautiful she still remained, but she was older. The
seriousness of one who has gained the knowledge of the world--knowledge
of its evil--seemed to envelope her. The calm gravity of a great
suffering past, but not forgotten, sat upon her. Not yet twenty-one, she
exhibited the demeanour of a woman of forty.

The one-time amplitude of her figure, the fulness of hip and shoulder,
the great deep swell from waist to throat were gone. She had grown
thinner and, in consequence, seemed unusually, almost unnaturally tall.
Her neck was slender, the outline of her full lips and round chin was a
little sharp; her arms, those wonderful, beautiful arms of hers, were
a little shrunken. But her eyes were as wide open as always, rimmed
as ever by the thin, intensely black line of the lashes and her brown,
fragrant hair was still thick, sti