It is the fact that Marian Seymour is a beautiful woman of flesh
and blood that the specter stalks! You who have never loved can't
sympathize as I do with the aboriginal man who struck down whomever
stood between himself and the woman he wanted, and carried his prize
bodily to his cave. I boasted that these twenty years had given me
opportunity for super-intellectual development, but instead I find
myself controlled by almost primeval instincts. My respect for law is
weakened, my regard for the rights of others seems stultified. This
woman has been mine since we were boy and girl together, Huntington, and
I want my woman! Before she broke the engagement my domination was too
complete, for it made her fear me; when we met twenty years later it was
she who dominated. Now, as I am coming back to myself, I feel my former
power returning, and I know that if I chose I could compel a
subservience of her will to mine. That is what I dread, for my exile
has destroyed my sense of proportion. If I do not exercise my own
strength then I must let her will be supreme, and that means that I
shall marry the girl while I worship the mother.--Don't belittle my
fearfulness, Huntington; it is a real thing to be reckoned with."

"Whether real or not," Huntington said kindly, "the fact that you think
it so is enough. I shall not advise you nor urge you to do anything
except what you yourself think wise, and so far as I can, whenever or
wherever you wish it, I will help you."

This discussion left a deep impression upon Huntington. He had never
looked upon Hamlen as a man of force, but rather as a visionary of
nervous tenseness; yet this outburst showed a strength which would have
carried his classmate far had it been properly directed. In spite of his
present activities Huntington could see that Hamlen still lived much in
his past,--the unconscious return to Mrs. Thatcher's girlhood name was
evidence of that, his reference to the ghostly companions of his Bermuda
life was equally convincing. What puzzled him was Hamlen's conviction
that Mrs. Thatcher was determined to compel the suggested alliance
against his will. This Huntington could not believe. She had expressly
stated to him that it was only an idea to be acted upon in case it
proved wise. Had Hamlen shown an interest in Merry, then undoubtedly
Marian's influence would be exercised in his behalf; but surely a
mother's heart would not be insistent in so serious a crisis! In this at
lea