r is incalculable and
his implacability is absolute. I can't tear away every family tie that
is rooted in your life merely to make you my comrade in ruin. That is
not my idea of loving, dearest."

"And if not that--what?" Her chin was raised and her lips parted. Her
voice was very soft, almost faint. Never, Edwardes thought, had she been
so beautiful. "I have left my brother's house to go with you. I shall
not return. Am I, then, to find myself like a beggar woman, with no
place to go except the streets of New York?"

With a gasping exclamation of pain in his throat he bent forward and
seized her in his arms. The car was now in the park and between the
light globes were spaces of darkness.

"For God's sake," he cried, "don't. It is because I love you so!"

"I think, Jefferson," she answered as he held her close with his kisses
on her cheeks, "you need me as much as I need you."

"Need you! Because I need you so much, I can't let you do this now."

"You spoke just now," she said, "as though you had no hope of victory in
this warfare. If that is true you need me to help you fight. I have no
intention of tame submission. You must have a Burton to fight this
Burton."

"If I spoke so," he declared, and his voice was far from submissive, "it
was because any chance of ruin is too great a chance to subject you to.
It is because I mean to defend myself and my clients and my honor to the
last breath that I say I can't marry you now. Certainly not until you
have gravely considered these new occurrences. I shall take small
pleasure in his overthrow, if I overthrow him, because he is your
brother."

"I think," her eyes flashed into a fierce animosity, "I shall glory in
it. I know that I shall not go back to his support. I offer myself to
you. I cannot compel you."

For a long while they talked, she resolved to fight his fight with him
or take off his ring; and he, in a torture of soul, refusing so great a
gift at so ruinous a cost to herself. At last it was arranged that she
should go to her mother's until she had made up her mind, and that they
should both accept an invitation for a week at the hunting-lodge of
friends in the Adirondacks. There, except for their host and hostess,
they would be alone and Edwardes might have a breathing space before his
battle.

There they tramped together on snowshoes over white-mantled hills and
forgot that any shadow threatened their happiness. They drank deep of
air that was spicy wi