k and no armor with which to protect herself? Well, there
was one way she might hit him--one. She would strike him in his weakest
point--his belongings. Yes, Martin Wade might leave her but all his
property must be left behind--every cent of it. There should be a
contract to that effect; otherwise, she would fight as only a frenzied
woman can fight.

The two of them, lying there side by side as quietly as if in death,
each considered the issue settled. She would let him go without his
property; Martin would leave with half of it. And through all the long
wordless controversy, their little Rose of Sharon, a few yards away,
slept as only a tired child can sleep.

VIII. THE DUST SMOTHERS

WHEN Martin opened his eyes, next morning, he realized with a start that
he had overslept, which was a new experience for one whose life had been
devoted so consistently to hard toil; and he saw with a sharper start,
that his wife, who always got up about a half hour earlier than himself,
was not even yet awake. He wondered what had come over him that he
should have committed such a sin, and as his tired mind opened one of
its doors and let the confused impressions flutter out, he countenanced
a luxury as unusual as the impulse that had sent him townward the
evening before to bring home the Victrola. Instead of jumping out
hastily so that he might attend to his hungry, bellowing stock, he lay
quietly marshalling the new incidents of his life into a parade which he
ordered to march across the low ceiling.

He could not comprehend what the tornado had been about. There had been
so little on which to base the excitement--so little that he was puzzled
as to what had caused the scene with his wife. And as he reflected, it
seemed highly unlikely to him that he would ever permit himself to do
anything that might jeopardize his whole life, topple over the structure
that decades of work had built. Why, it was scarcely less than suicidal
to let a stranger come into his heart and maybe weaken his position.
He remembered his last thought before falling asleep. It appeared
unutterably rash, though when hit upon, it had been a decision that
moderated a more extreme action. Now he realized that it was the
very acme of foolishness deliberately to sacrifice half his fortune,
especially the farm itself, to which he had given so many years of
complete concentration. Certainly, if Rose were ready to be his, he
might not hesitate even a second; but