. And it is better so. She spoiled
his life with her violence, her extravagance, her flirtations. He could
not bear it; and why should he be brought back to suffer all again?"

"She is his wife still," said the girl, in a low tone.

"They are separated. She tried to get a divorce, even if she did not
succeed. I do not call her his wife."

Janetta shook her head. "I cannot think of it as you do, then," she
said, quietly. "She and Wyvis are married; and as they separated only
for faults of temper, not for unfaithfulness, I do not believe that they
have any right to divorce each other. Some people may think
differently--I cannot see it in that way."

"You mean," said Mrs. Brand, with curious agitation of manner; "you mean
that even if she had divorced him in America, you would not think him
free--free to marry again?"

"No," Janetta answered, "I would not."

She felt a singular reluctance to answering the question, and she hoped
that Mrs. Brand would ask her nothing more. She was relieved when Wyvis'
mother moved away, after standing perfectly still for a moment, with her
hands clasped before her, a strange ashen shade of color disfiguring her
handsome old face. Janetta thought the face had grown wonderfully tragic
of late; but she hoped that when Juliet had left the house the poor
mother would again recover the serenity of mind which she had gained
during the past few months of Janetta's gentle companionship.

She wrote her letter to Wyvis, making it as brief and business-like as
possible. She dwelt a good deal on Juliet's weakness, on her love for
the boy, and her desire to see him once again. At the same time she
added her own conviction that Mrs. Wyvis Brand was on the high road to
recovery, and would soon be fairly strong and well. She dared not give
any hint as to a possible reconciliation, but she felt, even as she
penned her letter, that it was to this end that she was working. "And it
is right," she said steadily to herself; "there is nothing to gain in
disunion: everything to lose by unfaithfulness. It will be better for
Julian--for all three--that father and mother should no longer be
divided."

But although she argued thus, she had a somewhat different and entirely
instinctive feeling in her heart. To begin with, she could not imagine
persons more utterly unsuited to one another than Wyvis and his wife.
Juliet had no principles, no judgment, to guide her: she was impulsive
and passionate; she did not s