y in her feelings.

"What do you mean by reasons?" asked her mother. "What reasons have
you?"

"A very good one," said Suzanne quietly, twisting it to the singular.

"Well, what is it then, pray?"

Suzanne debated swiftly and yet a little vaguely in her own mind. She
had hoped for a longer process of philosophic discussion in which to
entrap her mother into some moral and intellectual position from which
she could not well recede, and by reason of which she would have to
grant her the license she desired. From one remark and another dropped
in this and the preceding conversation, she realized that her mother had
no logical arrangement in her mind whereby she included her in her
philosophical calculations at all. She might favor any and every theory
and conclusion under the sun, but it would mean nothing in connection
with Suzanne. The only thing that remained, therefore, was to defy her,
or run away, and Suzanne did not want to do the latter. She was of age.
She could adjust her own affairs. She had money. Her mental point of
view was as good and sound as her mother's. As a matter of fact, the
latter's attitude, in view of Suzanne's recent experience and feelings,
seemed weak and futile. What did her mother know of life any more than
she? They were both in the world, and Suzanne felt herself to be the
stronger--the sounder of the two. Why not tell her now and defy her. She
would win. She must. She could dominate her mother, and this was the
time to do it.

"Because I want to stay near the man I love," she finally volunteered
quietly.

Mrs. Dale's hand, which had been elevated to a position of gesticulation
before her, dropped limp, involuntarily, to her side. Her mouth opened
the least bit. She stared in a surprised, anguished, semi-foolish way.

"The man you love, Suzanne?" she asked, swept completely from her
moorings, and lost upon a boundless sea. "Who is he?"

"Mr. Witla, mama--Eugene. I love him and he loves me. Don't stare, mama.
Mrs. Witla knows. She is willing that we should have each other. We love
each other. I am going to stay here where I can be near him. He needs
me."

"Eugene Witla!" exclaimed her mother, breathless, a look of horror in
her eyes, cold fright in her tense hands. "You love Eugene Witla? a
married man! He loves you! Are you talking to me? Eugene Witla!! You
love him! Why I can't believe this. I'm not in my right mind. Suzanne
Dale, don't stand there! Don't look at me like that! Ar