mething would suggest itself, she
knew, for her crafty resourcefulness had helped her since her childhood
in many a tight place, from seemingly hopeless situations. She picked up
the crumpled letter and seating herself by the window smoothed the
sheets upon her knee.

She read it through again, calmly, critically this time, lingering over
the paragraph which hinted at the things he had to offer the woman who
became his wife.

"Diamonds and good clothes that means, a box at the Opera, fine horses
and a limousine. The trollop! the----!" The epithet was the most
offensive that she knew. "He knows she would like such things," she
reasoned.

Her mind was working in a circuitous way toward a definite goal which
she herself had not as yet perceived, but when she did see it, it came
with the flash of inspiration. She all but bounded to her feet and began
to pace the floor in the quick strides of mental excitement. A plan
suddenly outlined itself before her with the clearness of a written
text. Her crushing disappointment was almost forgotten in the keen joy
of working out the details of her plot. If only she could influence
certain minds--could manipulate conditions.

"I can! I _will_!" She emphasized her determination with clenched fist.

After a hasty toilette she surveyed herself in the glass with
satisfaction. The jaded look was fast fading under the stimulus of the
congenial work ahead of her and little trace of her intemperate
indulgence of the night remained.

"You're standing up well under the jolt, Harpe," she commented. "That
letter was sure a body blow."

She seated herself at the breakfast table and in her habitual attitude
of slouching nonchalance sat with half-lowered lids watching Essie
Tisdale as she moved about the dining-room. There was something in her
crouching pose, the cruel eagerness of her eyes, which suggested a bird
of prey, but it was not until they were alone that she asked
carelessly--

"How's the hand, Ess?"

The girl gave no sign of having heard.

"That was rather a bad fall you got."

Essie turned upon her with blazing eyes.

"Not so bad as you intended."

Dr. Harpe laughed softly and asked with a mocking pretence of surprise--

"Why, what do you mean?"

"You know perfectly well that I know you tripped me. You need not
pretend with me. Don't you think I know by this time that you would go
to any length to injure me--in any way--that you already have done so?"

"You flatter m