rom the man who would snarl at him and curse him and humiliate
him to the bitter end, and all because he knew that he could not begin
life over again. He wanted to be ordered about, he wanted to be snarled at
by an overbearing task-master. It simplified everything. He would never be
called upon to think for himself. Thorpe or Murray, what mattered which of
them was in command? It was all the same to him. His dignity passed, away
with the passing of his career as a "Man," and he rejoiced in the belief
that he had successfully evaded the responsibilities that threatened him
up to the moment he entered the presence of the mistress of the house. He
was no longer without a purpose in life. He would not have to go out and
be independent.

Toward the end of the second week Templeton Thorpe's will was read by
Judge Hollenback in the presence of "the family." There had been some
delay on account of Braden Thorpe's absence from the city. No one knew
where he had gone, nor was he ever to explain his sudden departure
immediately after the funeral. He simply disappeared from his hotel,
without so much as a bag or a change of linen in his possession, so far as
one could know. At the end of ten days he returned as suddenly and as
casually as he had gone away, but very much improved in appearance. The
strange pallor had left his cheeks and his eyes had lost the heavy, tired
expression.

At first he flatly refused to go down for the reading of the will. He was
not a beneficiary under the new instrument and he could see no reason for
his attendance. Anne alone understood. The old vow not to enter the house
while she was its mistress,--that was the reason. He was now in a position
to revive that vow and to order his actions accordingly.

She drooped a little at the thought of it. From time to time she caught
herself wishing that she could devise some means of punishing him, only to
berate herself afterward for the selfishness that inspired the thought.

Still, why shouldn't he come there now? She was the same now that she was
before her marriage took place,--a year older, that was all, but no less
desirable. That was the one thing she could not understand in him. She
could understand his disgust, his scorn, his rage, but she could not see
how it was possible for him to hold out against the qualities that had
made him love her so deeply before she gave him cause to hate her.

As for the operation that had resulted in the death of her hu