topped on the way home to get six enormous oranges in a paper bag. The heat had given her a stupid headache, and she

did not open it for a while. Serious thoughts held her. Opening her orange, she said to he

er babies other women had been having since time began. She could not believe i

her languid and weary, when Wallace's fork crushing an egg-yolk had given her a sudden sensation of nausea. She

e newspaper, smiled a contented little smile, and, murmu

scented with the decaying sweetness of orange peel. Dazed and stupid, yet dreamily content, Martie smiled upon him. He hated Sunday re

ed affectionatel

uestioned in turn. "You

dark hair from his big forehead, and

red him, laying

g, Martie's eyes idly roving about the room. Then the man reached for

cleared his throat self-consciously before speaking and Martie, glancing

you then?" s

long breath suddenly. "Something came up,

ued, more anxious to set hi

lace said, in a carefully matter-of-fact tone. But she could see that

she guess

assuringly, "not

rawing the shade that was rattling gently at

cking his dropped hands loosely between his knees, a

his Golda-

o?" Marti

o this morning," Wallace suppl

, bewildered, as his heavy

haven't seen her for eight or ten ye

pped herself in pillows, she was wide aw

nd you and I can sort of talk it over. You see I met this girl in Portland, when I was a kid in my uncle's lumber office. I was ab

in the

e me work there, and I wanted to join the navy or go to college, or go on the stage, and she'd sit there making h

she had a stepfather she hated, and sometimes she'd cry and all that. The crowd be

allie?" Martie suggested

she loved me!" he a

wife in pitying anti

added with a sort of dull resentment, "about 'leading young girls astray,' and 'betraying innocence,' and all that, but

he had been looking steadily at him, and she still stared steadily. But she f

ammered eagerly, "she

coarsely; "she was as ro

s lips felt dry, he

l boys are like that! Every one knows it. There isn't a man you know--And you're the only girl I ever loved, Sweetheart, you know that. Men are different, that's all

g her eyes. He kissed her suddenly colou

ace resumed suddenly. Martie opened tired ey

, and she said her stepfather had ordered her out of the house. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now, but anyway, we talked it all over, and she said she was going down to Los Angeles and hunt up this other fellow. Well, that

n a look of agonized atte

e got married, and have a little fun. Well, I says, we can keep it quiet for awhile. Well, we talked about it that day, and after that

God!" Marti

age on the license and so did she, and she had told me a

it wasn

crowd for a few weeks, and we didn't tell anyb

r. Pren

he would act sort of crazy sometimes, as if she didn't know what she was doing. Well, I told her I wouldn't stand for that, and we had some fights. But just then my dad wrote and told me that he would finance me for a year at Stanford, and I b

Wall

hat, d

sn't left

eck for five hundred dollars on her wedding day. She fell for it, and we said good-bye. She swore it was only a sort of joke anyway, and that the day we-we did it, she'd been filling me up with whisky lemonades and all that, and that the whole thing was off. And let me tell you that I was glad to beat it! I never saw her again until this morning! I went o

cel the other?" Martie a

ould!" he

--" she purs

these years; she looks awful. She saw my picture in some paper, and she came straight to the city. She found out where I lived, and this morning,

e say, Wallie-wha

know that I'm married. If she did, I suppose sh

aim on you! She ma

she never was marri

er eyes were fixed and glassy with growing apprehension. "Perh

t anything!" Wa

sn't-then would that second marriage c

so!" he answered

"Why, what do I know about it? What do I know about it?

g was so long ago it had sort of gone out of my mind. Every fellow does things that he's ashamed of, Mart-things that he's s

dly calm she sat back against her pillows, and

ht--" she bega

ou!" Wallace said. "She ha

elessly, patiently. "But

you she is

know you do!" she repeated mildly. "Only-only--" Her lip trembled despi

and felt his penitent kisses through the veil of her hair. A sickness swept over her: they were here in the

ed her a hundred times if she loved him, if she could forgive

we can do. I have to go away, of course; I can't stay here until we know; and you'll have to investigate, and find out just what

atefully; "but of course it'll be best to have you go to Sall

Wallace," she an

is on you-it'

ent. Her mind

she asked simply.

me to go out for?"

ht scarlet, her eyes hard and dry. She looked a

me to. I feel like a skunk about this-it had sort of slipped my m

ing. Trapped, in this friendly, comfortable room, where she had been so happy and so proud! She had been so innocently compl

re. She must disappear, nobody must ever find her. Sally and her father, Rose and Rodney must never know! Martie Monroe, married to

o! But it was too late for that. She must face the

home might be an immediate retreat, she could rest there, and plan there. Her sister was eagerly await

two o'clock now, she could get the four o'clock boat. Sh

er any circumstances? Should she tell Sally? Should she hide both W

ation for these crises, she was sick with shock and terror. Mar

not his wife, at least she could face the unknown future far more bravely t

oom. The window curtain flapped uncertainly, a gritty wind blew straight down

knelt down beside her bed. She had an impuls

from her knees their eyes met. In a second they were in

ng little girl

u are-I kn

ys, dearie-until I sett

t's

d we'll go have Spanish omelet

rling, I hope-I

long breath, and

ney have you

now. About four

t? I'll take you down. And wire me when you get there, Martie, so I won't worry. And tell Sally I wish her luck, I'

almost too much. "We-we didn't think-this would be the end of our happy time,

g with a certain quality of ease and poise for which Martie was puzzled to account, but which was new to quiet, conventional Sally. Sally was in the serene mood t

dsomer home for Sally, would have liked a more imposing husband than the tired, dirty, boyish-looking Joe, would have liked the first Monroe baby to come to a prettier layette than these plain little slips and flannels; but Sally saw everythi

event. The fowl was sliced and stewed and minced and made into soup before it went into the family annals to shine forevermore as "the delicious chicken Cousin Carrie brought us before the baby was born." Sally's cakes were made with one egg, her custards reinforced with cornstarch

out her. Sometimes, kneeling in church in the soft warm afternoons of early spring, she told herself that if this one cup were taken from her lips, if she were only proved to be indeed an honourable wife, she would bear wit

her, the new silence a

st, something'

-Wallace doesn't write to me

quarrel with

t husband in the wor

d. Presently she ventured a daring question: "Ha

laughed

e wish babies on to p

long walks, to help with the housework, and finally, to attempt composition. Sitting at the clean littl

h it: then she tired of it, and flung it a

shook as she took it from the postman. Now she would know-n

d his girl, he had a rotten cold, he was not working now. Golda was raising hell. He did not believe half that she said, but he had written to his uncle, who advised him to go to P

of the situation. It was like something in a book, only worse than any book that she had ever read. Sometimes she felt as if her brain were being affected by the sheer horror of it. Sometimes, Sally

had been made ready for the baby; it seemed to Martie's frightened heart nothing short of a miracle when Sally's crying daughte

wkes and Dr. Ben were even laughing as they consulted and worked together. Martie took the baby down to the kitchen for her bath, and i

the deluge of layer cakes and apple pies-debated over details. Joe's mother came in to bathe the baby and Sally did nothing but laugh and eat and sleep. She called her

had known since the terrible morning of Golda's appearance. She and Sally found the car

place for it in her own slowly-forming theories. At the time the three young persons debated

k for seventy-five dollars. The card with this check was merely pencilled: "For Miss Elizabeth's

with the doctor a year ago. This was the

things really made me almost die of embarrassment," smiled Sally, "and now,

ey said. It seemed too "odd." It was not as if Pa had decided to do it, or as if Dr.

money, and that there were lots of things that the baby needed, but he didn't care either

refuse. It was Dr. Ben's money. If he endowed a library, or put a conservatory into the Monroe Park, Sally w

ouldn't let him. You may never have another baby, but if you d

ggest things it would purchase. Martie summarily took it to the Bank one day and brought home crackling bills in exchange. One

ervating, dry heat, and Martie wilted under it. There was no longer any doubt about her condition. The hour w

the city. Jesse was sure he could get her an occasional engagement;

ink of it as a woman's surest refuge. If she had not been so taught, what might she have done for herself in this year? Was it fair of him to take what she had to give then, in quick and generous devotion, and to fail her so utterly

artie to listen for 'Lizabeth's little snuffle of awakening, should she une

wept over the pages, she reproached and blamed him. For the first time she told him of the baby's coming. She was his wife, he must

lay long awake, wondering in her ignorant girl's heart if such an unwifely tirade were

and scrambled eggs in Sally's kitchen. The sight of him there in the flesh, smiling and handsome, was almost too much f

h, and Martie, quieted, sat on the arm of her husband's chair, feeling again th

were alone, and the

money to get me away somewhere? I can't stay

u're going with me! We

were fixed upon hi

lda!" s

turess impatiently. "Now I'll tell

Martie must turn the knife in the w

riumphant voice! "Her husband's a

ie's voice died in

e time I left there, was dead, but we dug up the license bureau and found what we were after. She had been married all right and her husband's still living. We found him in the Home for Incurables up there; been there f

was breathing to herself, her eyes closed. "D

up; it was quite in his

mory Dawson than for any m

a man

anager-you ma

ions; but her face rested against her husband's as she

t he might take from his pocket a letter, the f

"He said he needs me, and I need him. I borrowed two hundred

aid, returning his handkerchief, and finishing the talk w

bout-November, Wallie," said she, after a w

d good-naturedly.

orderly dinner of sausages and fresh bread and strawberries, with everybody jumping up and sitting down incessantly. Wallace was a great addition to the little group; they were all young enough to like the pose of lovers,

re they left to various young members of the Hawkes family, Reddy Johnson, and one or two other men. Martie thought it was "silly" to order wine and to attempt a smart affair in the dism

consulting her, he had borrowed money from Ro

u?" she asked with d

about his job, and his automobile. He took out his bank book and showed me his balance. And all of a sudden it occurred to me I might make

What a triumphant achievement of her dream of a year ago! And yet her heart was so heavy that she might almost ha

ale, home odours, with the home pictures, the jointed gas brackets under which she had played solitaire and the square piano where she had sung "The Two Grenadiers." Outside, in the sunken garden, summer burgeoned fra

said Lydia. "I'm sure I never heard of such actions, com

er's note. Lydia

t Thanksgiving and all! And you've no idea of the TALK in town! Pa feels it terribly. To think th

her mother. And with sudden earnestness she added: "WHY don

now pressed it to her eyes, shaking her head as she did so. Lydia gave Mart

why didn't she marry some man Pa could have been proud of, and

and for her father. Her mother and sister came with her for good-by

ways be happy, Martie, and remember that we did our best for you. If you're a good girl, and write some day and a

e. She walked quickly down the old garden, through the still rich green, and smelled, as she had smelled a thousa

xter with that man again. I