s probably harrying the
life out of her. This must not be.

They went upstairs to the damp, desolate sun parlor, and he undertook
at once the business in hand.

"It has n't worked very well, has it, Marjory?" he began, with a forced
smile.

Turning aside her head, she answered in a voice scarcely above a
whisper:--

"No, Monte."

"But," he went on, "there's no sense in getting stirred up about that."

"It was such a--a hideous mistake," she said.

"That's where you're wrong," he declared. "We've tried a little
experiment, and it failed. Is n't that all there is to it?"

"All?"

"Absolutely all," he replied. "What we did n't reckon with was running
across old friends who would take the adventure so seriously. If we'd
only gone to Central Africa or Asia Minor--"

"It would have been just the same if we'd gone to the North Pole," she
broke in.

"You think so?"

"I know it. Women can't trifle with--with such things without getting
hurt."

"I 'm sorry. I suppose I should have known."

"You were just trying to be kind, Monte," she answered. "Don't take
any of the blame. It's all mine."

"I urged you."

"What of that?" she demanded. "It was for me to come or not to come.
That is one part of her life over which a woman has absolute control.
I came because I was so utterly selfish I did not realize what I was
doing."

"And I?" he asked quickly.

"You?"

She turned and tried to meet his honest eyes.

"I'm afraid I've spoiled your holiday," she murmured.

He clinched his jaws against the words that surged to his lips.

"If we could leave those last few weeks just as they were--" he said.
"Can't we call that evening I met you in Paris the beginning, and the
day we reached Nice the end?"

"Only there is no end," she cried.

"Let the day we reached the Hotel des Roses be the end. I should like
to go away feeling that the whole incident up to then was something
detached from the rest of our lives."

"You're going--where?" she gasped.

He tried to smile.

"I 'll have to pick up my schedule again."

"You're going--when?"

"In a day or two now," he replied. "You see--it's necessary for me to
desert you."

"Monte!"

"The law demands the matter of six months' absence--perhaps a little
longer. I 'll have this looked up and will notify you. Desertion is
an ugly word; but, after all, it sounds better than cruel and abusive
treatment."

"It's I who deserted," she said.

He waved t