m. I won't give
him a divorce. I can't, as he will know later, and he has no grounds for
obtaining one. Do you expect to be his mistress? You have no hope of
ever being anything else. Isn't that a nice ambition for a girl of your
standing? And you are supposed to be virtuous! Oh, I am ashamed of you,
if you are not! I am sorry for your mother. I am astonished to think
that you would so belittle yourself."

Suzanne had heard the "I can't," but she really did not know how to
interpret it. It had never occurred to her that there could ever be a
child here to complicate matters. Eugene told her that he was unhappy,
that there was nothing between him and Angela and never could be.

"But I love him, Mrs. Witla," said Suzanne simply and rather
dramatically. She was tense, erect, pale and decidedly beautiful. It was
a great problem to have so quickly laid upon her shoulders.

"Don't talk nonsense, Suzanne!" said Angela angrily and desperately.
"Don't deceive yourself and stick to a silly pose. You are acting now.
You're talking as you think you ought to talk, as you have seen people
talk in plays. This is my husband. You are in my home. Come, get your
things. I will call up your mother and tell her how things stand, and
she will send her auto for you."

"Oh, no," said Suzanne, "you can't do that! I can't go back there, if
you tell her. I must go out in the world and get something to do until I
can straighten out my own affairs. I won't be able to go home any more.
Oh, what shall I do?"

"Be calm, Suzanne," said Eugene determinedly, taking her hand and
looking at Angela defiantly. "She isn't going to call up your mother,
and she isn't going to tell your mother. You are going to stay here, as
you intended, and tomorrow you are going where you thought you were
going."

"Oh, no, she isn't!" said Angela angrily, starting for the phone. "She
is going home. I'm going to call her mother."

Suzanne stirred nervously. Eugene put his hand in hers to reassure her.

"Oh, no, you aren't," he said determinedly. "She isn't going home, and
you are not going to touch that phone. If you do, a number of things are
going to happen, and they are going to happen quick."

He moved between her and the telephone receiver, which hung in the hall
outside the studio and toward which she was edging.

Angela paused at the ominous note in his voice, the determined quality
of his attitude. She was surprised and amazed at the almost rough manner
in