PHE 135

XVI. A FAMILY CONFERENCE 142

XVII. RUTH GOES TO NEW YORK 156

XVIII. A YEAR LATER 166

XIX. RUTH RESUMES HER OWN STORY 177

XX. THE FIFTH WHEEL GAINS WINGS 181

XXI. IN THE SEWALL MANSION 198

XXII. THE PARADE 206

XXIII. AN ENCOUNTER WITH BRECK 212

XXIV. THE OPEN DOOR 222

XXV. MOUNTAIN CLIMBING 232

XXVI. THE POT OF GOLD 239

XXVII. VAN DE VERE'S 248

XXVIII. A CALL FROM BOB JENNINGS 258

XXIX. LONGINGS 266

XXX. AGAIN LUCY NARRATES 274

XXXI. RUTH DRAWS CONCLUSIONS 282

XXXII. BOB DRAWS CONCLUSIONS TOO 291

ILLUSTRATIONS

"'Why, Breck, don't be absurd! I wouldn't _marry_ you
for anything in the world'" _Frontispiece_

FACING
PAGE

"'Men seem to want to make just nice soft pussy-cats
out of us, with ribbons round our necks, and hear
us purr'" 128

"Straight ahead she gazed; straight ahead she rode;
unafraid, eager, hopeful; the flag her only staff" 170

"I was the only one in her whole establishment whom
she wasn't obliged to treat as a servant and menial" 202

THE FIFTH WHEEL

CHAPTER I

RUTH VARS COMES OUT

I spend my afternoons walking alone in the country. It is sweet and
clean out-of-doors, and I need purifying. My wanderings disturb Lucy.
She is always on the lookout for me, in the hall or living-room or on
the porch, especially if I do not come back until after dark.

She needn't worry. I am simply trying to fit together again the
puzzle-picture of my life, dumped out in terrible confusion in
Edith's sunken garden, underneath a full September moon one midnight
three weeks ago.

Lucy looks suspicious