t.
All I could do was stand back--clear back out of sight, and hope.
And--and love you, too, Ford. I'm proud of you! I'm proud to think that
I--I love a man that is a man; that doesn't sit down and whine because a
fight is hard, or give up and say it's no use. I do despise a moral
weakling, Ford. I don't mind what you have been; it's what you are, that
counts with me. And you're a man, every inch of you. I'm not a bit
afraid you'll weaken. Only," she added half apologetically, "I did want
you to give me the--the jug, because I couldn't bear to see you look so
worried." She gave his fingers an adorable little squeeze, and flung
his hand away from her, and laughed in a way to set his heart pounding
heavily in his chest. "Now you know where I stand, Mr. Man," she cried
lightly, "so let's say no more about it. I bet I can beat you across
this flat!" She laughed again, wrinkled her nose at him impertinently,
and was off in a run.

[Illustration: "Ford, I'm no coquette," she said straightforwardly.]

If she had waited, Ford would have told her. If she had given him a
chance, he would have told her afterward; but she did not. She was
extremely careful not to let their talk become intimate, after that. She
laughed, she raced Hooligan almost to the point of abuse, she chattered
about everything under the sun that came into her mind, except their own
personal affairs or anything that could possibly lead up to the subject.

Ford, for a time, watched for an opening honestly; saw at last the
impossibility of telling her--unless indeed he shouted, "Say, I'm a
married man!" to her without preface or extenuating explanation--and
yielded finally to the reprieve the fates sent him.

CHAPTER XVI

To Find and Free a Wife

Ford spent the rest of that day and all of the night that followed, in
thinking what would be the best and the easiest method of gaining the
point he wished to reach. All along he had been uncomfortably aware of
his matrimonial entanglement and had meant, as soon as he conveniently
could, to try and discover who was his wife, and how best to free
himself and her. He had half expected that she herself would do
something to clear the mystery. She had precipitated the marriage, he
constantly reminded himself, and it was reasonable to expect that she
would do something; though what, Ford could only conjecture.

When he faced Josephine across the breakfast table the next morning, and
caught the shy glance she g