he had carefully arranged it in her mind several
months before, and Harry Osgood's proposal was but the consummation of
her plans. He was precisely the kind of man that she considered an
attractive, poor girl ought to marry, and women like Helen seem to
possess a faculty for adjusting their lives according to their desires.
She was the only woman whom Duncan Grahame had ever asked to be his
wife, and perhaps for the reason that she had refused him, she continued
to occupy the most central cell of his somewhat honeycombed heart. She
had declined to marry Duncan because, at that time, he was poor, and she
knew that he possessed too quick a perception, and too arbitrary a
disposition, to be a suitable husband for a woman of her ambitions. She
had, however, since her marriage, granted Duncan the privileges of a
somewhat equivocal friendship, which, owing to a general misconception
of Helen Osgood's character, the world often misapprehended. Her
acquaintances fancied her unhappy in her home life, but she was
perfectly contented. Her friends believed she was a woman of strong
feelings and sympathies, but she was subtle and calculating. The world
thought her friendship for Duncan must be of a serious nature, while, in
reality, it was scarcely more than a _passe temps_. Though not harassed
by any scruples, she was too cold really to love, and too clever
actually to compromise herself. But she was, however, sufficiently
selfish to receive without giving, and sufficiently vain to enjoy the
continued admiration of so scarred and complex a heart as Duncan's. She
had been gifted with a peculiar insight into human character, and having
studied the nature of man as a scientist might that of a mollusk, she
felt that she understood every masculine vagary. Prompted mostly by
curiosity, she singled out Duncan as the specimen best calculated to
demand the full exercise of her powers. If she had, at times, permitted
certain familiarities which the world might not entirely approve, she
had been careful to define the boundaries beyond which they must not
pass; and the fact that his actions were governed in a manner so
contrary to his wishes kept Duncan in a continuous state of irritation,
and served at the same time to produce a continuity of affection quite
unusual in his other experiences.

For nearly four years this peculiar friendship, so galling to Duncan, so
gratifying to Helen, had continued intermittently; and though many
ruptures had