ach me to square up for learning to
drive the car."

"That's a bargain; and I'll teach Bill too," she added with native tact.
But Mrs. Wade, ill at ease in her own parlor, caught the afterthought
quality of Rose's tone. There was no question but that it was for Martin
she sparkled, sweet and spontaneous as she was. Decidedly, the time had
come when definite action should not be delayed.

It was nearly twelve o'clock when they finally broke up and husband and
wife found themselves alone in their own room. As they undressed, Mrs.
Wade acted nervously, confused as to how to begin, while Martin whistled
lightly and kept time by a slight bobbing of his head. She shot a
meaning look in his direction.

"You seem happy, don't you?"

He stopped whistling instantly and assumed his more normal look of set
sternness. This was the man she knew and she preferred him that way,
rather than buoyant because of some other woman, even though that other
was as lovable and innocent of any deliberate mischief as her niece. Not
that she was jealous so much as she was hurt. When a woman has fortified
herself, after years of the existence to which Mrs. Wade had submitted,
with the final conviction that undoubtedly her husband's is a nature
that cannot be other than it is, and then learns there are emotional
potentialities not yet plumbed, not to mention a capacity for pleasant
comradeship of which he has never vouchsafed her an inkling, she finds
herself being ground between the millstones of an aching admission of
her own deficiencies and a tattered, but rebellious, pride.

Martin, when her remark concerning his apparent happiness had
registered, let his answer be a sober inspection of the garment he had
just removed.

"I don't suppose you can talk to me now after such a strenuous evening,"
she went on more emphatically. And as he maintained his silence, she
continued with: "Oh, don't think I'm blind, Martin Wade. I know exactly
how far this has gone and I know how far it can go."

"What are you driving at?"

"You know perfectly well what I mean--the way you are behaving toward
Rose."

"Are you trying to imply that I'm carrying on with her?"

"I certainly am. I'm not angry, Martin. I never was calmer than I am
right now, and I don't intend to say things just for the sake of saying
them. I only want you to know that I have eyes, and that I don't want to
be made a fool of."

To her surprise, Martin came over to her and, looking at h