d clothes.
There still seemed something that she had to say. As if Joan hadn't
thought of everything. Her eyes were fixed upon the narrow strip of
light between the window curtains.

"You don't think you could, dear," she whispered, "if I didn't do
anything wicked any more. But just let things take their course."

"You see, dear," she went on, her face still turned away, "I thought it
all finished. It will be hard for me to go back to him, knowing as I do
now that he doesn't want me. I shall always feel that I am in his way.
And Hilda," she added after a pause, "she will hate me."

Joan looked at the white patient face and was silent. What would be the
use of senseless contradiction. The woman knew. It would only seem an
added stab of mockery. She knelt beside the bed, and took the thin hands
in hers.

"I think God must want you very badly," she said, "or He wouldn't have
laid so heavy a cross upon you. You will come?"

The woman did not answer in words. The big tears were rolling down her
cheeks. There was no paint to mingle with and mar them. She drew the
little metal box from under the pillow and gave it into Joan's hands.

Joan crept out softly from the room.

The nurse was standing by the window. She turned sharply on Joan's
entrance. Joan slipped the box into her hands.

The nurse raised the lid. "What a fool I've been," she said. "I never
thought of that."

She held out a large strong hand and gave Joan a longish grip. "You're
right," she said, "we must get her out of this house at once. Forgive
me."

Phillips had been called up north and wired that he would not be able to
get down till the Wednesday evening. Joan met him at the station.

"She won't be expecting you, just yet," she explained. "We might have a
little walk."

She waited till they had reached a quiet road leading to the hills.

"You will find her changed," she said. "Mentally, I mean. Though she
will try not to show it. She was dying for your sake--to set you free.
Hilda seems to have had a talk with her and to have spared her no part of
the truth. Her great love for you made the sacrifice possible and even
welcome. It was the one gift she had in her hands. She was giving it
gladly, proudly. So far as she was concerned, it would have been kinder
to let her make an end of it. But during the last few days I have come
to the conclusion there is a law within us that we may not argue with.
She is coming back t