ime, I shall play the game with Harry."

And so for Harry's sake, for the man who was not worthy to tie her
shoes, she had continued to crucify her real instincts in an effort
to hide the worst feminine crime in her husband's calendar--advancing
age.

"When will she come to you?" I asked, and then with a sudden
remembrance of the only conditions under which Lillian's little
daughter could be restored to her, I added, "then her father is--"

"Not dead, but dying," Lillian returned gravely, "but oh, my dear, he
sent for me two weeks ago and acknowledged the terrible wrong he did
me. I am vindicated at last, Madge--at last."

Her voice broke, and as she laid her cheek against my hand, I felt the
happy tears which she must have kept back all through the excitement
of my accident. How like her to put by her own greatest experiences as
of no consequence when weighed against another's trouble!

I kissed her happily. "Do you feel that you can tell me about it?" I
asked.

"You and Dicky are the two people I want most to know," she returned.
"Will confessed everything to me, and better still, to his mother.
I would have been glad to have spared the poor old woman, for she
idolizes her son, but you remember I told you that although she loved
me, he had made her believe the vile things he said of me. It was
necessary that she should know the truth, if after Will's death I was
to have any peace in my child's companionship.

"Marion loves her grandmother dearly, and the old woman fairly
idolizes the child, although her feebleness has compelled her to leave
most of the care of the child to hired nurses. There is where I am
going to have my chance with my little girl. I never shall separate
her from her grandmother while the old woman lives, but from the
moment she comes to me, no hireling's hand shall care for her--she
shall be mine, all mine."

Her voice was a paean of triumphant love. My heart thrilled in
sympathy with hers, but underneath it all I was conscious of a
strong desire to have Harry Underwood reconciled to this new plan of
Lillian's. The calmness with which she had spoken of their parting had
not deceived me. I knew that Lillian's pride, already dragged in the
dust by her first unhappy marital experience, would suffer greatly
if she had to acknowledge that her second venture had also failed.
I tried to think of some manner in which I could remedy matters.
Unconsciously Lillian played directly into my hands.