I? Would I? If so, I should hold her
blameless. Have all men and all women a price if we but name it?
Answer! Answer!" And then from the depths of his being came the burning
words:

"No. By God, I swear it. No!"

He looked up with a start, wondering vaguely if the crowd had heard
this cry from something inside which he knew in that moment was bigger
than the world without.

No, they were intent on the drama at the altar. The minister was
saying:

"With this ring I thee wed----" he couldn't see, but he knew the ring
was being placed on the third finger of the left hand--chosen by
tradition because a vein of blood was supposed to run direct from that
finger to the heart--what a solemn farce!

And now he was saying:

"What God hath joined together--let not man put asunder----"

"'God!' Surely he didn't say 'God,'" Stuart brooded. "Does God, the
august, mysterious, awful creator of the universe, work like this? Did
not the God of heaven and earth give this woman to him beneath the
sunny skies of the South while their souls sang for joy?"

They were moving again down the aisle, the organ throbbing the
recessional from Mendelssohn. A wave of emotion swept the crowd inside
and they became a mob of vulgar, chattering, gossiping fools swarming
over the church as if it were the grandstand of a racecourse, without
hesitation tearing down and stealing its decorations for souvenirs.

When Stuart reached the door it was pouring rain. He was glad of it.
The splash of the rain in his face was refreshing and the breath of the
storm was good. He walked for an hour facing the wind, not knowing or
caring where it might lead.

By a curious law of reaction, all resentment and anger were gone, and
only a great pity for Nan began to fill his heart.

CHAPTER X

GROPING

Stuart reached home from his walk thoroughly tired and dropped into a
feverish sleep. A strange dream haunted this attempt to rest. He found
himself laughing and chatting with Bivens on terms of intimate
friendship. All feeling of resentment against him had gone. The little
man had grown to be a great figure and he was happy in remembering
their boyhood associations. And strangest of all, they had united in a
feeling of hatred for Nan. She was the common enemy of both, and not
only so, she was the enemy of all men. As she passed through the
street, crowds were hissing and insulting her, and as she was entering
her home they tried to kill her. A stone st