friends who had died of
love, and others who had overdrunk and overeaten. The secret of
happiness was not to want anything you did not have. If you went
beyond that, you paid the cost in new sacrifices, leading again to
sacrifices growing out of those.

Monte lighted a cigarette and inhaled a deep puff. The thing for him
to do was fairly clear: to pack his bag and leave while he still
retained the use of his reasoning faculties. He had been swept off his
feet for an instant, that was all. Let him go on with his schedule for
a month, and he would recover his balance.

The suggestion was considerably simplified by the fact that it was not
necessary to consider Marjory in any way. He would be in no sense
deserting her, because she was in no way dependent upon him. She had
ample funds of her own, and Marie for company. He had not married her
because of any need she had for him along those lines. The protection
of his name she would still have. As Mrs. Covington she could travel
as safely without him as with him. Even Hamilton was eliminated. He
had received his lesson. Anyway, she would probably leave Paris at
once for Etois, and so be out of reach of Hamilton.

Monte wondered if she would miss him. Perhaps, for a day or so; but,
after all, she would have without him the same wider freedom she
craved. She would have all the advantages of a widow without the
necessity of admitting that her husband was dead. He would always be
in the background--an invisible guard. It was odd that neither she nor
he had considered that as an attractive possibility. It was decidedly
more practical than the present arrangement.

As for himself, he was ready to admit frankly that after to-day golf on
an English course would for a time be a bore. From the first sight of
her this morning until now, he had not had a dull moment. She had
taken him back to the days when his emotions had been quick to respond
to each day as a new adventure in life.

It was last winter in Davos that he had first begun to note the keen
edge of pleasure becoming the least bit dulled. He had followed the
routine of his amusements almost mechanically. He had been conscious
of a younger element there who seemed to crowd in just ahead of him.
Some of them were young ladies he remembered having seen with
pig-tails. They smiled saucily at him--with a confidence that
suggested he was no longer to be greatly feared. He could remember
when they blus