s-book. Out of her six thousand pounds she had privately given no
less than four thousand to the scoundrel who had deceived and forsaken
her! Not a month afterwards he married a young girl--with a fortune of
course. We read of such things in newspapers and books. But to have them
brought home to one, after living one's own life among honest people--I
tell you it stupefied me!"

He said no more. Below them in the cabin, voices were laughing and
talking, to a cheerful accompaniment of clattering knives and forks.
Around them spread the exultant glory of sea and sky. All that they
heard, all that they saw, was cruelty out of harmony with the miserable
story which had just reached its end. With one accord the three men rose
and paced the deck, feeling physically the same need of some movement to
lighten their spirits. With one accord they waited a little, before the
narrative was resumed.

CHAPTER 5

Mr. Hethcote was the first to speak again.

"I can understand the poor creature's motive in joining your Community,"
he said. "To a person of any sensibility her position, among such
relatives as you describe, must have been simply unendurable after what
had happened. How did she hear of Tadmor and the Socialists?"

"She had read one of our books," Amelius answered; "and she had her
married sister at New York to go to. There were moments, after her
recovery (she confessed it to me frankly), when the thought of suicide
was in her mind. Her religious scruples saved her. She was kindly
received by her sister and her sister's husband. They proposed to keep
her with them to teach their children. No! the new life offered to her
was too like the old life--she was broken in body and mind; she had
no courage to face it. We have a resident agent in New York; and he
arranged for her journey to Tadmor. There is a gleam of brightness, at
any rate, in this part of her story. She blessed the day, poor soul,
when she joined us. Never before had she found herself among such
kind-hearted, unselfish, simple people. Never before--" he abruptly
checked himself, and looked a little confused.

Obliging Rufus finished the sentence for him. "Never before had she
known a young man with such natural gifts of fascination as C.A.G. Don't
you be too modest, sir; it doesn't pay, I assure you, in the nineteenth
century."

Amelius was not as ready with his laugh as usual. "I wish I could drop
it at the point we have reached now," he said. "But she