stinacy.

"Oh, Mrs. Stafford!" he went on warmly. "I had no idea you were here.
How noble and plucky it is of you--"

"Any self-respecting woman would do the same," she said quietly.

Hadley shrugged his shoulders. Cynically he replied:

"Some might, most wouldn't. You don't find women in our set making
sacrifices even for a principle when it comes to giving up their
comforts and their luxuries. I think you've acted splendidly and so
does Bob, only he won't admit it. He's a good fellow at heart. The
trouble was that he married too late in life. His habits were formed.
He did not realize that to be happy in married life one must give as
well as take; in other words, that a really happy marriage is a
compromise. Always having had his own way, accustomed to imposing his
will upon that of others, he failed to realize that when he married he
conferred certain rights on the woman to whom he gave his name. Now it
is different. He sees his mistake. It has been a bitter lesson to
him."

A deep flush spread over Virginia's pale face. What did these words
mean? Could it be true that her husband still loved her?

"You see him sometimes?" she murmured.

"Almost every day. I dined with him at the club last night."

"Is he well?"

Hadley made no answer, but bending forward, looked more closely at his
friend's wife. He took quick note of her tired-looking eyes, the
pallor of her face. Slowly he said:

"And you? Are you well? I think that is more important."

She smiled wearily as she answered:

"Oh, I'm a little tired, that's all. This work is very confining. In
fact, I've quite gotten out of the way of it."

He looked at her intently for a moment in silence. Then he said:

"I had no idea where you had gone. None of his friends knew. Some
think you are abroad. Bob has let that impression get about. Even I,
his most intimate friend, did not know all the particulars! I guessed
the truth. Yet Bob knew where you were."

Virginia, startled, looked up quickly:

"He knows?" she exclaimed.

Hadley nodded.

"Yes--he has employed a man to watch you constantly from a distance.
Not because he believed you would ever give him cause for divorce--to
be fair to him, that has never entered his mind; but he wanted someone
to watch over you, protect you--"

Virginia flushed; her heart was beating violently. In a low tone, she
said:

"He has done that?" she exclaimed. "Then he has not forgotten me after
all--"

The young man l