peated Keith, after a pause. "Norman is not that
sort."

His absolute certainty daunted her.

"He did. I have reason to think--" she began. But Keith put her down.

"Never! I would stake my salvation on it."

"He is going to get a--try to get a divorce. He is willing to blacken my
name."

"What! Never."

"But you do not know the reasons I have for saying so," she protested.
"If I could tell you--"

"No, and I do not care. Doubt your own senses rather than believe that.
Ferdy Wickersham is your authority for that."

"No, he is not--not my only authority. You are all so hard on Ferdy. He
is a good friend of mine."

"He is not," asserted Keith. "He is your worst enemy--your very worst.
He is incapable of being a friend."

"What have you against him?" she demanded. "I know you and he don't like
each other, but--"

"Well, for one thing, he deceived a poor girl, and then abandoned
her--and--"

"Perhaps, your information is incorrect? You know how easy it is to get
up a slander, and such women are--not to be believed. They always
pretend that they have been deceived."

"She was not one of 'such women,'" said Keith, calmly. "She was a
perfectly respectable woman, and the granddaughter of an old friend
of mine."

"Well, perhaps, you may have been misinformed?"

"No; I have the evidence that Wickersham married her--and--"

"Oh, come now--that is absurd! Ferdy married! Why, Ferdy never cared
enough for any one to marry her--unless she had money. He has paid
attention to a rich woman, but--You must not strain my credulity too
far. I really thought you had something to show against him. Of course,
I know he is not a saint,--in fact, very far from it,--but he does not
pretend to be. But, at least, he is not a hypocrite."

"He is a hypocrite and a scoundrel," declared Keith, firmly. "He is
married, and his wife is living now. He abandoned her, and she is
insane. I know her."

"You know her! Ferdy married!" She paused in wonder. His certainty
carried conviction with it.

"I have his marriage certificate."

"You have?" A sort of amaze passed over her face.

He took out the paper and gave it to her. She gazed at it with staring
eyes. "That is his hand." She rose with a blank face, and walked to the
window; then, after a moment, came back and sat down. She had the
expression of a person lost. "Tell me about it."

Keith told her. He also told her of Norman's losses.

Again that look of amazement crossed her