-every one, very likely, except
himself. But whom could he ask? He could have believed Nancy on one side
as little as Laura on the other.

And as he thought this, he saw coming down the street, Hickson--a witness
prejudiced, perhaps, but strictly honest.

For the first time in their short acquaintance, Hickson's face brightened
at the sight of Riatt, and he called out with evident sincerity: "I am
glad to see you."

"I came on rather unexpectedly."

"I'm glad you did. Quite right." Hickson stopped at this, and looked at
his companion with such wistful uncertainty, that it seemed perfectly
natural for Riatt, answering that look, to say:

"You may speak frankly to me, you know."

Ned took a long breath. "I believe that I may," he said. "I hope so,
anyhow. I haven't had any one I could be frank with. Between ourselves,
Fenimer is no good at all."

"What, my future father-in-law?"

"Is that what he is?" Hickson asked with, for him, unusual directness.

Riatt's affirmative was not very decided, and Ned went on:

"I can't even talk to Nancy about it. She's keen, but she does not
understand Christine. She attributes the most shocking motives to her,
and when I object, she says every one is like that, only I haven't sense
enough to see it. Well, I never pretended to have as much sense as Nancy,
but I see some things that she doesn't. I see, for instance, that there's
something noble in Christine, in spite of--I beg your pardon for talking
to you like this, but you must remember that I have known her a good deal
longer than you have, and that in a different way perhaps I care for her
almost as much as you do."

"I told you to speak frankly," answered Riatt. "What is it that Mrs.
Almar says of Christine?"

At first Hickson refused to answer, but the suffering and anxiety he had
been undergoing pushed him toward self-expression, and Riatt did not have
to be very skilful to extract the whole story. Nancy had asserted that
Christine had never intended for a minute to marry Riatt--that she had
just used him to excite Linburne's jealousy to such a point that he would
arrange matters so that he could marry her himself. For once Riatt found
himself in accord with Nancy.

"Do more people than your sister think that?"

Hickson was not without his reserves. "Oh, I dare say, but I don't care
about that sort of gossip. It's absurd to say she and Linburne are
engaged. How can a girl be engaged to a married man?"

"We must m