h her hands again: "No, no, no," she cried,
"not Kate!" Then she looked up at him with eyes suddenly kindling:
"Have you heard what Kate's life has been since her marriage?"

"We have all heard, I suppose."

"She has never spoken a word against him--not even to me from whom
she never had a secret. How could I go to her about Rowan? Even
if she had confided in me, I could not tell her this."

"If you are going away, change of scene will help you to forget it."

"No, it will help me to remember."

"There is prayer, Isabel."

"I know there is prayer. But prayer does not do any good. It has
nothing to do with this."

"Enter as soon as possible into the pleasures of the people you are
to visit."

"I cannot! I do not wish for pleasure,"

"Isabel," he said at last, "forgive him."

"I cannot forgive him."

"Have you tried?"

"No, I cannot try. If I forgave him, it would only be a change in
me: it would not change him: it would not undo what he has done."

"Do you know the necessity of self-sacrifice?"

"But how can I sacrifice what is best in me without lowering
myself? Is it a virtue in a woman to throw away what she holds to
be as highest?"

"Remember," he said, returning to the point, "that, if you forgive
him, you become changed yourself. You no longer see what he has
done as you see it now. That is the beauty of forgiveness: it
enables us better to understand those whom we have forgiven.
Perhaps it will enable you to put yourself in his place."

She put her hands to her eyes with a shudder: "You do not know what
you are saying," she cried, and rose.

"Then trust it all to time," he said finally, "that is best! Time
alone solves so much. Wait! Do not act! Think and feel as little
as possible. Give time its merciful chance. I'll come to see you."

They had moved toward the door. She drew off her glove which she
was putting on and laid her hand once more in his.

"Time can change nothing. I have decided."

As she was going down the steps to the carriage, she turned and
came back.

"Do not come to see me! I shall come to you to say good-by. It is
better for you not to come to the house just now. I might not be
able to see you."

Isabel had the carriage driven to the Osborns'.

The house was situated in a pleasant street of delightful
residences. It had been newly built on an old foundation as a
bridal present to Kate from her father. She had furnished it with
a young wife'