ger any interest in the world? Do you know that my husband is dead?"

"Indeed, I am sorry. How long--"

"David!" She was ready to cry with vexation, but the reproach she threw
into her voice eased her.

"Did you get any of my letters? You must have got some of them, though
you never answered."

"Well, I didn't get the last one, announcing, evidently, the death of
your husband, and most likely others went astray; but I did get some.
I--er--read them aloud to Winapie as a warning--that is, you know, to
impress upon her the wickedness of her white sisters. And I--er--think
she profited by it. Don't you?"

She disregarded the sting, and went on. "In the last letter, which you
did not receive, I told, as you have guessed, of Colonel Sayther's death.
That was a year ago. I also said that if you did not come out to me, I
would go in to you. And as I had often promised, I came."

"I know of no promise."

"In the earlier letters?"

"Yes, you promised, but as I neither asked nor answered, it was
unratified. So I do not know of any such promise. But I do know of
another, which you, too, may remember. It was very long ago." He
dropped the axe-handle to the floor and raised his head. "It was so very
long ago, yet I remember it distinctly, the day, the time, every detail.
We were in a rose garden, you and I,--your mother's rose garden. All
things were budding, blossoming, and the sap of spring was in our blood.
And I drew you over--it was the first--and kissed you full on the lips.
Don't you remember?"

"Don't go over it, Dave, don't! I know every shameful line of it. How
often have I wept! If you only knew how I have suffered--"

"You promised me then--ay, and a thousand times in the sweet days that
followed. Each look of your eyes, each touch of your hand, each syllable
that fell from your lips, was a promise. And then--how shall I
say?--there came a man. He was old--old enough to have begotten you--and
not nice to look upon, but as the world goes, clean. He had done no
wrong, followed the letter of the law, was respectable. Further, and to
the point, he possessed some several paltry mines,--a score; it does not
matter: and he owned a few miles of lands, and engineered deals, and
clipped coupons. He--"

"But there were other things," she interrupted, "I told you.
Pressure--money matters--want--my people--trouble. You understood the
whole sordid situation. I could not help it. It was not my wi