With my
husband away there wasn't the need of much room."

"Well, he only has one room here," responded Mrs. Tynan. "He never
seemed too crowded in it."

"Where is it? Might I see it?" asked the small, dark-eyed, dark-haired
wife, with the little touch of nectarine bloom and a little powder
also; and though she spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, there was a look of
wistfulness in her eyes, a gleam of which Kitty caught ere it passed.

"You've been separated, Mrs. Crozier," answered the elder woman, "and
I've no right to let you into his room without his consent. You've had
no correspondence at all for five years--isn't that so?"

"Did he tell you that?" the regal little lady asked composedly, but with
an underglow of anger in her eyes.

"He told the court that at the Logan Trial," was the reply.

"At the murder trial--he told that?" Mrs. Crozier asked almost
mechanically, her face gone pale and a little haggard.

"He was obliged to answer when that wolf, Gus Burlingame, was after
him," interposed Kitty with kindness in her tone, for, suddenly, she
saw through the outer walls of the little wife's being into the inner
courts. She saw that Mrs. Crozier loved her husband now, whatever she
had done in the past. The sight of love does not beget compassion in
a loveless heart, but there was love in Kitty's heart; and it was even
greater than she would have wished any human being to see; and by it she
saw with radium clearness through the veil of the other woman's being.

"Surely he could have avoided answering that," urged Mona Crozier
bitterly.

"Only by telling a lie," Kitty quickly answered, "and I don't believe
he ever told a lie in his life. Come," she added, "I will show you his
room. My mother needn't do it, and so she won't be responsible. You
have your rights as a wife until they're denied you. You mustn't come,
mother," she said to Mrs. Tynan, and she put a tender hand on her arm.

"This way," she added to the little person in the pale blue, which
suited well her very dark hair, blue eyes, and rose-touched cheeks.

CHAPTER XIII. KITTY SPEAKS HER MIND AGAIN

A moment later they stood inside Shiel Crozier's room. The first glance
his wife gave took in the walls, the table, the bureau, and the
desk which contained her own unopened letter. She was looking for a
photograph of herself.

There was none in the room, and an arid look came into her face. The
glance and its sequel did not escape Kitty's notice