the awful weight of injustice men had unconsciously, often in deepest
love, laid upon them.

"Priscilla, you trust me; trust my love?"

"Yes."

"You believe me when I say that I see this--as you do--but that we only
differ as to methods?"

"I--I hope I see that and believe it."

"Then"--and here Travers did his poor, blind part to lay another straw
upon the drift of burden--"leave this--to me. I know better than you do
the end of any such mad course as you, in your affection and sense of
wrong, might take. Little girl, let me try to show you. Suppose you went
to Margaret Moffatt. You know her proud, sensitive nature; her loyalty
and absolute frankness. After the shock and torture she would go to her
father with the truth--for she would believe you--and announce her
unwillingness--I am sure, even though her heart broke, she would do
this--to marry Huntter. Then the matter would lie among men; men with the
traditional viewpoint; men with much, much at stake. If Huntter has, as
you say, taken the chance, in his love for Margaret--and he does love
her, poor devil!--he will defend himself and his position."

"How?" Priscilla was regaining her calm; she raised her head and faced
Travers from the circle of his arms.

"He will--send Moffatt to--to--Hapgood."

"And he--what will he do?"

"What does the priest do when the secrets of the confessional are
attacked?"

"Yes, yes--but then?"

"Then--oh! my precious girl! Can you not see? You will come into focus.
You, my love, my wife, but, nevertheless, a woman! a trained nurse!
Hapgood would flay you alive, not because he has anything against you,
but professional honour and discipline would be at stake. Between such a
man as Hapgood and--Priscilla Glynn--oh! can you not see my dear, dear
girl?"

"Yes, I begin to see. And--I see I dare not trust even you!" The hard
note in Priscilla's voice hurt Travers cruelly. "And--you, you and Doctor
Ledyard--how would you stand?" she asked faintly.

Travers held her at arm's length, and his face turned ashen gray.

"Besides being men, we, too, are physicians!" he said. "Brutal as this
sounds, it is truth!"

The light burned dangerously in Priscilla's eyes.

"When you are physicians--you are _not_ men!" she panted, and suddenly,
by a sharp stab of memory, Ledyard's words, back in the boyhood days at
Kenmore, stung Travers. They were like an echo in his brain.

"You--you of all women, cannot say that and mean it, my darlin