hen you have heard me
through. Mrs. Bishop was in poor health; the general in poor financial
circumstances. The doctors said the Riviera. Mrs. Bishop's parents, who
were wealthy, furnished the money for her sojourn in that climate. She
could not bear to be separated from her husband. A refusal to resign
then, a refusal to accept the financial aid offered, would have been
cast against him as a reproach--he did not love his wife enough to
sacrifice his pride, his ambition, his what-you-will. Nevertheless, that
was his moment of decision.

"I could multiply instances, yet it would only accumulate needless
proof. My point is that in these great moments a man can afford to
take into consideration only the affair itself. Never must he think of
anything but the simple elements of the problem--he must ignore whose
toes are trodden upon, whose feelings are hurt, whose happiness is
apparently marred. For note this: if a man does fearlessly the right
thing, I am convinced that in the readjustment all these conflicting
interests find themselves bettered instead of injured. You want a
concrete instance? I believe firmly that if the general had kept to his
army life, and made his wife conform to it, after the storm had passed
she would have settled down to a happy existence. I cannot prove it--I
believe it."

"This may be all very true, Gerald," said Orde, "but I fail to see why
you have brought us to this strange house to tell it."

"In a moment," replied Gerald. "Have patience. Believing that
thoroughly, I have come in the last twenty-four hours to a decision.
That this happens not to affect my own immediate fortunes does not seem
to me to invalidate my philosophy."

He carefully unbuttoned his frock coat, crossed his legs, produced a
paper and a package from his inside pocket, and eyed the two before him.

"I have here," he went on suddenly, "marriage papers duly made out;
in this package is a plain gold ring; in the next room is waiting, by
prearrangement, a very good friend of mine in the clergy. Personally I
am at your disposal."

He looked at them expectantly.

"The very thing!" "Oh, no!" cried Orde and Carroll in unison.

Nevertheless, in spite of this divergence of opinion, ten minutes later
the three passed through the door into the back apartment--Carroll still
hesitant, Orde in triumph, Gerald as correct and unemotional as ever.

In this back room they found waiting a young clergyman conversing easily
with two