sults which he obtains. He really
thinks I've come through this crisis because of some latent strength of
character, when in reality it has been the reflection of his own. He
would tell you that when I was dying of shame and mortification I took
myself by the boot-straps and pulled myself out of the abyss, and he
would never believe it was the result of the philosophy he demonstrated
by every word and act. He positively made me ashamed to do anything but
respond. And now that I am out, he has fired me with a desire to use the
years which remain in doing something for some one else. Can you wonder
that I love him?"

Marian's face reflected the pleasure his words gave her. "This is the
real Philip Hamlen I have seen behind his mask," she exclaimed; "this is
the Philip I tried in my mistaken way to rescue from the chaos of
confused ideals. I failed but Mr. Huntington succeeded; my gratitude to
him passes all bounds."

"You must take some of the credit whether you wish to or not," Hamlen
insisted. "When you invaded my Garden of Eden last winter and made those
disturbing statements, you weakened the barrier of false beliefs with
which I had surrounded myself. You could have restored the structure had
I permitted it, but I wasn't ready for it then. You were entirely right
when you said that I had forgotten the teachings of the masters I
venerated, that I was blind to the difference between the means and the
end. But, Marian--" for the first time his voice quavered--"that was
before I had a friend! Think of living all those years without a friend!
It was through your invasion that my horrible tranquillity was
disturbed; it was through you that I met the one man in all the world
who could take advantage of that condition to build a human structure
upon such ruins."

"Give me all the credit you can, Philip. I need it to help me to
forget."

"Tut! tut!" he chided her. "I may touch upon the past, but to you it is
forbidden! Through you"--he went on--"I gained my friend, and, as if to
demonstrate the philosophy he lives, in giving him to me you gained him
too; for to your daughter is assured the most wonderful of
companionships. Now, by the same token, in giving him to her, I shall
expect the reward of being admitted to full friendship in this family
whose members mean the world to me."

"We already count you one of us, Philip, and we shall accept nothing
less."

"Then am I rich in friendship!" he exclaimed. "The law of com