rful in the
force which lay behind the words. "Nothing can ever come to me so bitter
as to make me forget that this has caused you to say what you have just
said. You mean every word, and to have won such devotion from such a man
is enough to make any woman's life complete. But it is your heart which
speaks, and our sober judgment must acknowledge without a question the
necessity of settling beyond the reach of doubt the validity of the
legal tie which binds us. We need no court to settle the question of our
love, my Robert--that is the real marriage which I know God only
recognizes; but there can be no happiness for us if we disregard even
for a moment those conventions which are necessary to our every-day
life. You know it, dear, just as I do."

"It is unnecessary, Eleanor--it is unwise. We are so certain that there
is no real basis for doubt."

"Would you feel the same if Alice were involved?" she asked, quietly.

"Alice?" he repeated.

"Yes; suppose this same question came up with her, would you not be the
first to insist that the facts be proven?"

"What can I say?" he asked, brokenly. "This means a public trial and all
the scandal that goes with it. It means a rehearsing of all that past
which I have tried to help you to forget. It means pain and sorrow and
suffering to you, dear--to you whom I would shield with my life from
just what now threatens you."

"A trial, Robert?" Mrs. Gorham asked, looking at him with a startled
expression. "Do you mean that there has to be a trial?"

"Of course," Gorham replied, wondering at the unexpected change in her
attitude.

Suddenly she buried her face against his shoulder and burst into tears.
"Oh, I couldn't stand that!" she cried.

Gorham gently held her face from him and looked into it kindly but
questioningly. "Why not?" he asked.

"It would kill me," she replied, not meeting his look.

"Is there anything which the trial could bring out which you have not
already told me, Eleanor?" he asked, quietly.

"Don't you know enough already to understand why I could never live
through it?"

Gorham urged no further and caressed her gently, yet there was an
expression of distinct disappointment in his face.

"There must be no trial," he said, firmly. "You shall be shielded from
that and from everything else which threatens to bring you sorrow. You
must leave it all in my hands."

XXIII

Allen went over the list of names lying on the desk before him for a