lso, perhaps, be pointed out that we are here telling the
truth, and the whole truth, about George Dupont; and that it is not
customary to tell this about men, either in real life or in novels.
There is a great deal of concealment in the world about matters of sex;
and in such matters the truth-telling man is apt to suffer in reputation
in comparison with the truth-concealing one.

Nor had George really been altogether callous about the thing. It had
happened that his best friend had died in his arms; and this had so
affected the guilty pair that they had felt their relationship was no
longer possible. She had withdrawn to nurse her grief alone, and
George had been so deeply affected that he had avoided affairs and
entanglements with women until his meeting with Lizette.

All this was now in the far distant past, but it had made a deeper
impression upon George than he perhaps realized, and it was now working
in his mind and marring his happiness. Here was a girl who loved him
with a noble and unselfish and whole-hearted love--and yet he would
never be able to trust her as she deserved, but would always have
suspicions lurking in the back of his mind. He would be unable to have
his friends intimate in his home, because of the memory of what he had
once done to a friend. It was a subtle kind of punishment. But so it
is that Nature often finds ways of punishing us, without our even being
aware of it.

That was all for the future, however. At present, George was happy. He
put his black sin behind him, feeling that he had obtained absolution
by his confession to Henriette. Day by day, as he realized his good
fortune, his round face beamed with more and yet more joy.

He went for a little trip to Henriette's home in the country. It was
a simple village, and they took walks in the country, and stopped to
refresh themselves at a farmhouse occupied by one of M. Loches' tenants.
Here was a rosy and buxom peasant woman, with a nursing child in her
arms. She was destined a couple of years later to be the foster-mother
of Henriette's little girl and to play an important part in her life.
But the pair had no idea of that at present. They simply saw a proud
and happy mother, and Henriette played with the baby, giving vent to
childish delight. Then suddenly she looked up and saw that George was
watching her, and as she read his thoughts a beautiful blush suffused
her cheeks.

As for George, he turned away and went out under the bl