room with a bounce and, hardly deigning to notice
the greeting of Mr. Tucker, planted himself in a chair and surveyed him
grimly. "I thought I should find you here," he remarked.

"Well, I always am here, ain't I?" retorted Mr. Tucker, removing his
cigar and regarding him with mild surprise.

"Mr. Tucker is my friend," interposed Mrs. Bowman. "I am the only friend
he has got in Trimington. It's natural he should be here."

Mr. Clark quailed at her glance.

"People are beginning to talk," he muttered, feebly.

"Talk?" said the widow, with an air of mystification belied by her
color. "What about?"

Mr. Clark quailed again. "About--about our wedding," he stammered.

Mr. Tucker and the widow exchanged glances. Then the former took his
cigar from his mouth and, with a hopeless gesture threw it into the
grate.

"Plenty of time to talk about that," said Mrs. Bowman, after a pause.

"Time is going," remarked Mr. Clark. "I was thinking, if it was
agreeable to you, of putting up the banns to-morrow."

"There--there's no hurry," was the reply.

"'Marry in haste, repent at leisure,'" quoted Mr. Tucker, gravely.

"Don't you want me to put 'em up?" demanded Mr. Clark, turning to Mrs.
Bowman.

"There's no hurry," said Mrs. Bowman again. "I--I want time to think."

Mr. Clark rose and stood over her, and after a vain attempt to meet his
gaze she looked down at the carpet.

"I understand," he said, loftily. "I am not blind."

"It isn't my fault," murmured the widow, drawing patterns with her toe
on the carpet, "One can't help their feelings."

Mr. Clark gave a short, hard laugh. "What about my feelings?" he
said, severely. "What about the life you have spoiled? I couldn't have
believed it of you."

"I'm sure I'm very sorry," murmured Mrs. Bowman, "and anything that
I can do I will. I never expected to see Charles again. And it was so
sudden; it took me unawares. I hope we shall still be friends."

"Friends!" exclaimed Mr. Clark, with extraordinary vigor. "With _him?_"

He folded his arms and regarded the pair with a bitter smile; Mrs.
Bowman, quite unable to meet his eyes, still gazed intently at the
floor.

"You have made me the laughing-stock of Trimington," pursued Mr. Clark.
"You have wounded me in my tenderest feelings; you have destroyed my
faith in women. I shall never be the same man again. I hope that you
will never find out what a terrible mistake you've made."

Mrs. Bowman made a noise half-way betw