lants that Gorringe had spent his money upon, here all
about him.

As he surveyed them with a sour regard, a cool breeze stirred across the
garden. The tall, over-laden flower-spikes of gladioli bent and nodded
at him; the hollyhocks and flaming alvias, the clustered blossoms on the
standard roses, the delicately painted lilies on their stilt-like stems,
fluttered in the wind, and seemed all bowing satirically to him. "Yes,
Levi Gorringe paid for us!" He almost heard their mocking declaration.

Out in the back-yard, where a longer day of sunshine dwelt, there were
many other flowers, and notably a bed of geraniums which literally made
the eye ache. Standing at this rear corner of the house, he caught the
droning sound of Alice's voice, humming a hymn to herself as she went
about her kitchen work. He saw her through the open window. She was
sweeping, and had a sort of cap on her head which did not add to the
graces of her appearance. He looked at her with a hard glance, recalling
as a fresh grievance the ten days of intolerable boredom he had spent
cooped up in a ridiculous little tent with her, at the camp-meeting. She
must have realized at the time how odious the enforced companionship was
to him. Yes, beyond doubt she did. It came back to him now that they
had spoken but rarely to each other. She had not even praised his sermon
upon the Sabbath-question, which every one else had been in raptures
over. For that matter she no longer praised anything he did, and took
obvious pains to preserve toward him a distant demeanor. So much the
better, he felt himself thinking. If she chose to behave in that
offish and unwifely fashion, she could blame no one but herself for its
results.

She had seen him, and came now to the window, watering-pot and broom
in hand. She put her head out, to breathe a breath of dustless air, and
began as if she would smile on him. Then her face chilled and stiffened,
as she caught his look.

"Shall you be home for supper?" she asked, in her iciest tone.

He had not thought of going out before. The question, and the manner of
it, gave immediate urgency to the idea of going somewhere. "I may or I
may not," he replied. "It is quite impossible for me to say." He turned
on his heel with this, and walked briskly out of the yard and down the
street.

It was the most natural thing that presently he should be strolling past
the Madden house, and letting a covert glance stray over its front and
the gro