one thing, Harvey," said she, suddenly sincere. "I won't
do anything until I come back from the road. That's fair, isn't it?
And I'll tell you what else I'll do. I will let Phoebe stay with you
in Tarrytown until the end of the tour--in May."

"But I'm going to Blakeville," he protested.

"No," said she, firmly, "I won't agree to that. Either you stay in
Tarrytown or she goes to the convent."

"I can't get work in Tarrytown."

"You can tell Mr. Davis you will come out to Blakeville in time for
the opening of the soda-water season. I'll do the work for the family
till then. That's all I'll consent to. I'll ask for a legal separation
if you don't agree to that."

"I--I'll think it over," he said, feebly; "I'll stay here with you for
a couple of days, and----"

"You will do nothing of the sort!" she cried. "Do you suppose I'm
going to spoil my chances for a separation, if I want to apply, by
letting you live in the same house with me? Why, that would be wasting
the two months already gone."

He did not comprehend, and he was afraid to ask for an explanation.
The term "failure to provide" was the only one he could get through
his head; "desertion" was out of the question. His brow was wet with
the sweat of a losing conflict. He saw that he would have to accept
her ultimatum and trust to luck to provide a way out of the
difficulty. Time would justify him, he was confident. In the meantime,
he would ease his conscience by returning the check, knowing full well
that it would not be accepted. He would then take it, of course, with
reservations. Every dollar was to be paid back when he obtained a
satisfactory position.

He determined, however, to extract a promise from her before giving
in.

"I will consent, Nellie, on the condition that you stop seeing this
fellow Fairfax and riding around in his big green car. I won't stand
for that."

Nellie smiled, more to herself than to him. She had Fairfax in the
meshes. He was safe. The man was madly in love with her. The instant
she was freed from Harvey he stood ready to become her
husband--Fairfax, with all his money and all his power.

And that is precisely what she was aiming at. She could afford to
smile, but somehow she was coming to feel that this little man who
was now her husband had it in him, after all, to put up a fierce and
desperate fight for his own. If he were pushed to the wall he would
fight back like a wildcat, and well she knew that there would be
dis