said, I sometimes think that it's only sympathy that's
holding me."

"Don't be too sure," she said warningly.

"Yes, but I've gone through with a great deal. The thing for me to
have done was to have married her in the first place. There have been
so many entanglements since, so much rowing and discussion, that I've
rather lost my bearings. This will of father's complicates matters. I
stand to lose eight hundred thousand if I marry her--really, a
great deal more, now that the company has been organized into a trust.
I might better say two millions. If I don't marry her, I lose
everything outright in about two more years. Of course, I might
pretend that I have separated from her, but I don't care to lie. I
can't work it out that way without hurting her feelings, and she's
been the soul of devotion. Right down in my heart, at this minute, I
don't know whether I want to give her up. Honestly, I don't know what
the devil to do."

Lester looked, lit a cigar in a far-off, speculative fashion, and
looked out of the window.

"Was there ever such a problem?" questioned Letty, staring at the
floor. She rose, after a few moments of silence, and put her hands on
his round, solid head. Her yellow, silken house-gown, faintly scented,
touched his shoulders. "Poor Lester," she said. "You certainly have
tied yourself up in a knot. But it's a Gordian knot, my dear, and it
will have to be cut. Why don't you discuss this whole thing with her,
just as you have with me, and see how she feels about it?"

"It seems such an unkind thing to do," he replied.

"You must take some action, Lester dear," she insisted. "You can't
just drift. You are doing yourself such a great injustice. Frankly, I
can't advise you to marry her; and I'm not speaking for myself in
that, though I'll take you gladly, even if you did forsake me in the
first place. I'll be perfectly honest--whether you ever come to
me or not--I love you, and always shall love you."

"I know it," said Lester, getting up. He took her hands in his, and
studied her face curiously. Then he turned away. Letty paused to get
her breath. His action discomposed her.

"But you're too big a man, Lester, to settle down on ten thousand a
year," she continued. "You're too much of a social figure to drift.
You ought to get back into the social and financial world where you
belong. All that's happened won't injure you, if you reclaim your
interest in the company. You can dictate your own terms.