point is in nowise different, after all."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I leave it to your imagination,--and to reflection. Listen! We may as
well be friends. You do not wish to admit it, even to yourself, but
you are in love with him. So am I. The difference between us is that
I realize I can get along without him, and still be happy. I am not
jealous, my dear. If I were, I should hate you,--and I do not. He is in
love with you. You know it perfectly well, because you are not a fool.
He is not in love with me. No more am I a fool. He--"

"I am not in love with him!"

"So be it," said Olga shortly. "Have your own way about it. It is not my
affair. You have come to me, however, because you know he loves you and
you know you do not love him. Why, therefore, are you afraid of me?"

"It is useless to continue this--"

"Oh, I see! You do not wish my girls to hear our conversation." Without
more ado, she ordered the three girls out of the hut. "Go out and play,"
she commanded. Then, as the girls imparted in haste, she turned to Ruth.
"I am very thoughtless. You are not in the habit of discussing your love
affairs quite so generously as I. Poof! They do not care, those girls.
Love affairs mean nothing to my girls."

"I have no love affair to discuss, Madame Obosky. You need not have sent
them away. Good-bye..There is nothing more to be said--"

"Do not go away,--please. You do not know whether to like me or not. You
do not understand me. You have never encountered any woman as honest as
I am, zat is the trouble. Sit down, please. Let us talk. We may be here
together on this island all the rest of our lives, Miss Clinton. It
would not be right for us to hate each other. When you are married to
Mr. Percivail, you will have nothing to fear from me. I give you my
solemn oath on zat, Miss Clinton. Our little world here is too small. If
we were out in the great big world,--well, it might be different then.
But, how, I ask you, is it possible for me to run away with your husband
when there is no place to run away to?"

She spoke so quaintly that Ruth smiled in spite of herself.

"You are a most extraordinary person, Madame Obosky. I--I can't dislike
you. No, thank you, I sha'n't sit down. I came to see you about the
naming of the baby. I suppose you know that we women have decided to
oppose the--"

"Yes, yes,--I know," interrupted the other. "But why should we oppose?
It is a very small matter."

"Do you really believe