re the man who had so moved her? Helen would have
given the world to have taken that look from his eyes; to have put in
its place the clear, inspired light that had at first so drawn her to
him; but she hardened her heart.

"Elijah, you're a hypocrite! You've got the instincts of a thief without
his courage. This stuff doesn't go with me. You took the company's
money. Make good or take the consequences."

Elijah sprang to his feet.

"My God, Helen! I won't listen to such things. You've no right to say
them."

Helen calmed herself with an effort.

"I was quoting Mr. Seymour. Would you rather wait and hear him
directly?"

Elijah made a pathetic gesture as he sank back in his chair.

"I didn't think you would turn on me like this, Helen."

Helen rose and placed her hand on Elijah's shoulder. He could not see
her face, and she no longer tried to keep her eyes from showing the
conflicting emotions that almost overpowered her.

"I haven't turned on you, Elijah. I'm not going to turn on you. I
believe in you yet. We've made a mistake. We must find a way out."

"You made a mistake?"

"Yes. When you paid Pico the fifty thousand, I felt quite sure that a
part of it must have come from the Las Cruces. I am as guilty as you
are."

Before she could prevent, Elijah had snatched her hand from his shoulder
and was pressing it to his lips. Helen wrenched her hand from his lips.
As if drawn by her resisting hand he rose to his feet, his burning eyes
resting on hers. In vain she tried to withdraw her hand from his fierce
clasp.

"Don't leave me, Helen, don't leave me!" With wide open arms he sprang
toward her.

With hardly a perceptible motion, she was beyond the reach of his
outstretched hands. She had no palliating knowledge of his inner
thoughts, no knowledge of the malevolent suggestions of Mrs. MacGregor,
no knowledge of the scene in Elijah's house, where the lamplight fell on
a tear-stained baby face, on blistered sheets with hopeless figures,
upon renunciation, as Elijah closed the door and deliberately put his
wife from him.

Helen stood erect, composed, her eyes filled with loathing, contempt,
but not for Elijah alone. This was the hardest to bear. What had she
said, what had she done to bring this horrible thing upon herself?

Elijah slowly grasped the meaning of Helen's eyes. She had not spoken.
There was no need that she should speak.

"No! no! no! Helen, not that, not that; you don't understand."

"St