Jennie were going farther up the Nile in the morning--toward
Karnak and Thebes and the water-washed temples at Phylae. They
would have to start at an unearthly early hour, and he must get to
bed.

"When are you going home?" asked Mrs. Gerald, ruefully.

"In September."

"Have you engaged your passage?"

"Yes; we sail from Hamburg on the ninth--the
Fulda."

"I may be going back in the fall," laughed Letty. "Don't be
surprised if I crowd in on the same boat with you. I'm very unsettled
in my mind."

"Come along, for goodness sake," replied Lester. "I hope you do....
I'll see you to-morrow before we leave." He paused, and she looked at
him wistfully.

"Cheer up," he said, taking her hand. "You never can tell what life
will do. We sometimes find ourselves right when we thought we were all
wrong."

He was thinking that she was sorry to lose him, and he was sorry
that she was not in a position to have what she wanted. As for
himself, he was saying that here was one solution that probably he
would never accept; yet it was a solution. Why had he not seen this
years before?

"And yet she wasn't as beautiful then as she is now, nor as wise,
nor as wealthy." Maybe! Maybe! But he couldn't be unfaithful to Jennie
nor wish her any bad luck. She had had enough without his willing, and
had borne it bravely.

CHAPTER XLVII

The trip home did bring another week with Mrs. Gerald, for after
mature consideration she had decided to venture to America for a
while. Chicago and Cincinnati were her destinations, and she hoped to
see more of Lester. Her presence was a good deal of a surprise to
Jennie, and it started her thinking again. She could see what the
point was. If she were out of the way Mrs. Gerald would marry Lester;
that was certain. As it was--well, the question was a complicated
one. Letty was Lester's natural mate, so far as birth, breeding, and
position went. And yet Jennie felt instinctively that, on the large
human side, Lester preferred her. Perhaps time would solve the
problem; in the mean time the little party of three continued to
remain excellent friends. When they reached Chicago Mrs. Gerald went
her way, and Jennie and Lester took up the customary thread of their
existence.

On his return from Europe Lester set to work in earnest to find a
business opening. None of the big companies made him any overtures,
principally because he was considered a strong man who was looking for
a control in anyth