Archie, glad of something to
relieve the tension. "He told me without shame that he had almost fallen
in love with you as a distraction from his troubles. But I didn't
confess that you had started me for the penitentiary. There's the train,
and you must permit me to satisfy Mrs. Congdon that her husband is in a
mood for immediate reconciliation before I break the news that he is
here."

Mrs. Putney Congdon more than justified the impression he had formed of
her in their encounter in Central Park by the manner in which she heard
his story. He told it with all brevity on the station platform. First
assuring her of Edith's safety, he made a clean breast of the Bailey
Harbor visit, but skipped discreetly all that had occurred between that
calamitous excursion and his meeting with her in New York.

It was so incredible that it was not until he described his journey to
Huddleston in Putney's company that she was able to see any humor in the
series of events that had led them all into the north.

"Poor dear Putney! And he doesn't know yet that you nearly killed him!"

"Oh, there are a lot of things he doesn't know. Your father-in-law has
given his solemn promise that he will not again attempt to meddle in
your affairs. The umbrella that symbolized his tyranny is at the bottom
of the lake and if he should die you and your children wouldn't be
thrown upon charity."

"This is all too wonderful to be true," she exclaimed. "After all the
misery I've endured it can't be possible that happiness is just ahead of
me. I had become resigned--"

"Your resignation after Edith was snatched away from you there in the
park struck me as altogether charming! Your conduct pleased me mightily.
We were both awful frauds, fooling the police and running away!"

"It was delicious! I had always had a wild wicked desire to fool a
policeman. Isn't that a dreadful confession! What must you think of me
for admitting such a thing!"

"My own derelictions make me very humble; it's only a survival of the
primitive in all of us. I shouldn't worry about it. It's terribly easy
to become a lost sheep, even a black one. But this is not an hour for
philosophical discussion. Let me assure you that the nasty telegram that
caused you to leave Bailey Harbor in so bitter a spirit was the work of
your father-in-law. Putney had nothing to do with it."

"Oh, I rather guessed that; but I ran away thinking I might rouse my
husband to a little self-assertion."

"