him some time afterwards. At the
moment she laughed with a little embarrassment. "Dear me, Mr. Trent!
Have I said anything dreadful? You surely must know ... I thought
everybody understood by now ... I'm sure I've had to explain it often
enough ... if I marry again I lose everything that my husband left me."

The effect of this speech upon Trent was curious. For an instant his
face was flooded with the emotion of surprise. As this passed away he
gradually drew himself together as he sat into a tense attitude. He
looked, she thought as she saw his knuckles grow white on the arms of
the chair, like a man prepared for pain under the hand of the surgeon.
But all he said, in a voice lower than his usual tone, was: "I had no
idea of it."

"It is so," she said calmly, trifling with a ring on her finger.
"Really, Mr. Trent, it is not such a very unusual thing.... I think I am
glad of it. For one thing, it has secured me--at least since it became
generally known--from a good many attentions of a kind that a woman in
my position has to put up with as a rule."

"No doubt," he said gravely. "And ... the other kind?"

She looked at him questioningly. "Ah!" she laughed. "The other kind
trouble me even less. I have not yet met a man silly enough to want to
marry a widow with a selfish disposition, and luxurious habits and
tastes, and nothing but the little my father left me."

She shook her head slowly, and something in the gesture shattered the
last remnants of Trent's self-possession. "Haven't you, by God!" he
exclaimed, rising with a violent movement and advancing a step towards
her. "Then I am going to show you that human passion is not always
stifled by the smell of money. I am going to end the business--my
business. I am going to tell you what I dare say scores of better men
have wanted to tell you, but couldn't summon up what I have summoned
up--the infernal cheek to do it. They were afraid of making fools of
themselves. I am not. You have accustomed me to the feeling this
afternoon." He laughed aloud in his rush of words, and spread out his
hands. "Look at me! It is the sight of the century! It is the one who
says he loves you, and would ask you to give up very great wealth to
stand at his side."

She was hiding her face in her hands. He heard her say brokenly:
"Please ... don't speak in that way."

He answered: "It will make a great difference to me if you will allow me
to say all I have to say before I leave you. Per