p. Wives should remember they have eyelids as well as eyes."

"Is Gertrude's husband kind to her?"

"Can I know? If Gertrude has picked up a crooked stick, she does not
go about telling everybody so."

"Then there is brother George. He is making money, but you can tell
from his letters that he is not happy with his wife."

"I am not sorry for George," answered Augusta. "When you were at
college, George came here, and he told my John about his wife. He
thought she had money, and she thought he had money, and both of them
were mistaken; so--as my John said to me--when the rag doll and the
stuffed elephant got married, they found each other out. But John and
I married for love; and so must you marry, Adriana."

"There is so much trouble in any marriage, Augusta." And Augusta again
waved her hands over her boys and girls, and answered with unspeakable
pride: "There are the children! Husbands you must take your chance
with; but the little children! You make of them what you will."

"Then you will not join Cousin Alida's club?"

"I will not. John has three clubs; and the money is spent, and the
time is spent, and who is the better for it? I have my own club with
my boys and girls; and for them, all I can do is too little."

As soon as the short winter afternoon began to close in, Adriana bade
her sister "good-bye," and turned westward. She took the quietest
streets, and felt a little thrill of vague wonder and fear, as she
puzzled her way through Gramercy Park and Madison Square to Fifth
Avenue. There she encountered life and bustle, and the confusion of
many vehicles of many kinds going northward. As she waited for an
opportunity to cross the street, some one came to her side; some one
said:

"Yanna! Dear Yanna!"

"Harry!"

The recognition was instant; they met before they knew it, in each
other's eyes; hand slipped into hand, and almost unconsciously Harry
led her across the street. Then he leaned towards her and whispered:

"At last, dear Yanna! At last!"

"But why not before, Harry? It is your fault."

"Ah, I have been so weak! I have been so wicked, Yanna. Pass it by
without a word. No words can explain or justify me. I have nothing to
trust to but your gentleness and love. Do you yet love me?"

She looked at him, and he understood the light on her face, and the
heavenly smile on her lips. It grew dark, but they knew it not; it
grew cold, but they felt it not; the busy thoroughfare became empty
and sti