care? I'd like to have 'em hear me! I _want_ them to know
that I--" He broke off and stood looking at her. "It doesn't seem to
worry you much!" he thrust at her.

"It did, Ted," she said patiently. "I--it did." She looked so
distressed, so worn as she said it that it mollified him until she
added: "And still, you mustn't be too hard on people. A woman who has
put herself in that position--"

"There you go! 'Put herself' in that position! Put herself!" he jeered
angrily, "in that position! As if the position was something Ruth got
into on purpose! And after all these years!--still talking about her
'position.' Let me tell you something! I'll tell you the woman that's
'put herself' in the position I'd think would make her hate herself!
That's Mrs. Williams! _She's_ the one that's 'put herself'--"

"Ted," she broke in sternly, "you must _not_!"

But, "You make me _sick_!" he flung back at her and snatched hat and
coat from the hall rack and left the house with a violent bang of the
front door.

He did not go down to Deane's office. He stalked ahead, trying to hold
down the bitter rage that was almost choking him. At one time when he
looked up he saw that he was passing the house Deane Franklin had built
before his marriage and noted that it was closed, all the shades were
clear down. Flower beds that had been laid out in the spring had been
let go. It looked all wrong to see a new place so deserted, so run down.
He remembered seeing Deane working out in that yard in the spring. He
hurried on by. His heart was hot with resentment--real hatred--of the
town through which he walked. He loathed the place! he told himself.
Picking on Ruth for _this_--ready to seize on her for anything that put
her in bad! He had been with Ruth for four months. He knew now just how
things were with her. It gave him some idea of what it was she had gone
through. It made him hate the town that had no feeling for her.

He had walked out from town, not giving any thought to where he was
going, just walking because he had to be doing something. He was about
to cross a little bridge and stepped to the side of the road to let the
vehicle right behind him get ahead. He stood glaring down at the creek
and did not look up until he heard the wagon, just as it struck the
bridge, stop. Then he saw that it was a woman driving the market wagon
and recognized her as Mrs. Herman, who had been so good to Ruth.

He stepped up eagerly to greet her; his face