guilty; yet,
surely, you must admit that he is ruined."

"Never!" said Lettice, passionately. She could almost have stamped her
foot with rage to hear another say what was already in her own mind. But
old habits of self-restraint came to her aid. She raised her head
proudly as she replied: "A man is never ruined. Alan Walcott has a
future."

"He may have a future, dear, but it is one in which we cannot be
concerned. Listen to me, Lettice--I do so strongly feel that this is the
crisis and turning point of your life! There are lines beyond which no
woman who respects herself, or who would be respected by the world, can
go. If you do not act with prudence and common sense to-day, you may
have to repent it all the rest of your life. You are strong--use your
strength to good purpose, and think, for Heaven's sake think, of the
courage and self-sacrifice which are expected from women of your
breeding and position." She ended with tears in her eyes, for although
she spoke conventionally, and as conventional women speak, her heart was
full of the truest anxiety and tenderness for her friend.

Lettice was looking out of the window again, as though for inspiration
in her difficulty. When she answered, it was with inexpressible sadness
and regret.

"You have been so good and kind to me that it cuts my heart to disagree
with you in any way. Have I reached such a turning point as you say?
Perhaps it is so--but I have been brought to it; I have not wilfully
walked up to it. You said that Alan's future was one in which we could
not be concerned. What I feel at this moment, more vividly than I ever
felt anything in my life, is that I am concerned and involved in his
future. I have fought against this, and put it aside, as you, my dear
friend, must know. I have tried to forget him--and my shame of the past
few weeks has been that I tried to care for some one else. Well, I
failed; and see how the very trying has brought me to this clear and
irresistible knowledge of my own heart! If I were superstitious, I
should say that it was my fate. I don't know what it is--I don't
know if my view or your view of my duty is right--but I am quite
sure of this, that I shall have to act on my own view. Courage and
self-sacrifice--yes! They are primary virtues in a woman; but courage
for what? Self-sacrifice for whom?"

"For society! For the world in general!"

"But the world in general has the world to help it. If one man needs a
woman's sacrif