bringing such a man in the family. Floyd's marriage was bad
enough."

"But your _petite_ sister-in-law does improve wonderfully."

"Don't call her anything to me," says Laura, disdainfully. "She is
simply Floyd's wife. I only wish we were going to sail this very day
and get out of all the _escalandre_."

Madame laughs comfortingly. Laura resolves to go up to Grandon Park to
see in what estimation the marriage is held there.

They are surprised and puzzled. Mrs. Grandon's mortification is a
little assuaged, and in her secret heart she is thankful Marcia has
done no worse. She has been lawfully married by a reputable clergyman,
she is staying at a fashionable hotel, and will no doubt have a stylish
reception. She has married a man who can not only keep her in comfort,
but who is likely to keep her out of any further imprudences, and
therefore one need have no care or anxiety about the future. The step
certainly has some compensations to her, if they are and must remain
unconfessed to the world.

"I do regret it," Floyd says, candidly, "for I am afraid Marcia's
romance has led her into an unwise step. I cannot imagine Jasper
Wilmarth being tender to a woman. I have never been able to like or
admire him, or, for that matter, trust him, and our views seldom
accord. I suppose the secret of it was that Marcia was afraid of
opposition."

"But what are you going to do, recognize them at once?"

"If at all, why not at once? Why make a little stir and gossip? We
shall never be altogether friendly," and Floyd paces the room, for he
sees this step complicates business matters still further, "but we can
keep people from commenting upon our unfriendliness."

"Of course they will come back here to live, and it might be awkward
for you," returns Laura, rather elated that they are not likely to stay
in the city. "Well, if there _is_ nothing else to do----"

"We may as well put a pleasant face on the matter and swallow our
bitter pill," says Floyd, with a smile of concession.

"Do you know," says Violet, afterward, with a touch of timidity that is
quite entrancing, "I cannot help admiring Marcia's courage in marrying
a man she loved, even if he was not--and he _is_ quite dreadful," with
a shivering incoherence. "I saw him when he came to Canada, and he made
me think of an ogre. Yet it would be very hard if the whole world hated
you for something you could not help, like a deformity."

"I have known several instances of men w