ly. "And now, as I must, of course, be supposed
to first hear this story after it has been told to Olive, or at that
time, I would prefer being present when you enlighten her. Let us
dress for dinner, go down together, and--I leave the rest to your
tact."

Madeline could readily comprehend that it would be easier for Claire
to sit, with Olive, a listener, than to wait and hear the story from
the lips of her sister. If it were left to Olive to tell, Claire's
face might betray her heart, perhaps. But now, hearing it from
Madeline, and with Olive, whose surprise and dismay at the revelation
would quite effectually cover up any signs of emotion Claire might
manifest, the thing did not appear so difficult.

Madeline signified her approval, and they separated to dress for
dinner.

Claire Keith made her toilet with swift, firm fingers, and all the
while she was thinking fiercely, scornfully. She was not stunned by
the blow that had stricken her love and her pride. Rather, it seemed,
she was quickened into unusual activity and clearness of thought.

After a time, perhaps, she would feel more the sadness, the cruelty,
of the hurt; now she felt the outrage to her pride, and a fierce
self-scorn that she could have ever loved a man so base. She hated
Edward Percy for having deceived her, and equally she despised herself
for having been thus deceived by this specious flatterer.

"You little fool!" she scoffed at her image reflected back from her
mirror. "You are a very idiot among idiots! I wonder where are all
your high notions now. So," giving her hair an angry jerk, "you
perched yourself aloft on a pinnacle, didn't you? You looked down upon
all your sisterhood who were deceived, or betrayed, or sorrowing; and
you wondered how women could be so weak; how they _could_ be deluded
by base men. You looked upon poor dead Kitty, and wondered what was
the flaw in her intellect that made her the slave of a gambler and a
villain. You argued that only an unsophisticated school girl could be
deceived as was poor Madeline. Oh, you have been very proud, and very
high has been your standard of manly worth, Miss Claire Keith! So high
that the man who has occupied it might easily slip from that pedestal
to--Haman's gallows!"

At this point in her tirade, something suspiciously like a sob arose
in her throat, and checked her utterance. But it did not retard her
activity, and in a much shorter time than she usually spent upon an
evening toi