f now, with never
a word between us. I'm ready to swear by him any moment, if I've got him
to swear by. I'll back him up in anything, no matter what, if it's his
say-so. We've pulled through a good many tight places. But I can't do it
alone; it's madness to try. If he doesn't show up, I'd better close the
place down at once."

"Why do you say this to me?" asked Lois, shrinking a little.

"Why? Because, Mrs. Alexander, this is no time to mince words. If you
know where your husband is, for God's sake, get word to him to come
back--every minute is precious. He may be ill,--Heaven knows he had
enough to make him so; my wife knows the strain I've been through; she
says she wonders I'm alive,--but he can't look after his health now. If
he's on top of ground, he's got to _come_. I've put every cent I own
into this business. I haven't drawn my whole salary, even, for months. I
don't know what reasons he has for staying away, but his nerve mustn't
give out now."

"Mr. Harker!" cried Lois. She turned blankly to Dosia, who had come
forward. "What does he mean?"

"She doesn't know where her husband is," said the girl convincingly. Her
eyes and Mr. Harker's met. The somber eagerness faded out of his; he
sighed and rose.

"Anything I can do for you, Mrs. Alexander? I think I'll hurry to catch
the next train; I haven't been home to my dinner yet."

"Won't you have something here before you go?" asked Lois. "It's so
late."

"Oh, that's nothing. I'm used to it," returned Mr. Harker, with a pale
smile and the passive, self-effacing business manner as he departed,
while Lois went up-stairs once more. The baby cried, and she soothed
him, holding the warm little form close, closer to her--some thing
tangible before she put him down again to step back into this strange
void where Justin was not.

For the first time, in this meeting with Mr. Harker, Lois realized the
existence of a world beyond her ken--a world that had been Justin's. New
as the visitor's words had been, they seemed to open to her a vision of
herculean struggle: the way this man had looked--_his_ wife had
"wondered that he was still alive." And Justin--where was he now? _She_
had not noticed, she had not wondered--until lately.

Slight as seemed her recognition, her sympathy, her help, it was the one
thing now that kept her reason firm. She knew that she had not been all
unfaithful; sometimes he had been rested, sometimes cheered, when she
was near. She had suffer