om he had seen enter a short while
before, was sitting in a sort of rigid, strained attitude in the far
corner; the man, who had just preceded him, had taken the chair by the
fireplace--they were the only occupants of the room. There was no sound
save his own footsteps--neither of the others looked at him. There was
quiet, a profound stillness--and the softened light from the shuttered
window fell mellow all about, fell like a benediction upon the
simplicity of the few plain articles that the room contained--the round
rag mats upon the white-scrubbed floor; the hickory chairs, severe,
uncushioned; the table, with its little japanned box and book.

Madison's eyes fixed upon the japanned box, as he leaned now, arms
folded, against the wall--a jewel, even in the subdued light, glowed
crimson-warm where it nested on a crumpled bed of bank-notes--a ruby
ring--the last contribution--it must have been the woman who had placed
it there. Madison glanced at her involuntarily--but his thoughts were
far away again in a moment.

Anger and a blind rage of jealousy were gripping him now. _Accident!_
The thought only fanned his fury. Accident! Yes; it was likely--as an
excuse! There would have been an accident all right--leave that to them!
Thornton perhaps wasn't the stamp of man to seek an adventure of that
kind deliberately--perhaps he wasn't--and perhaps he was--you never
could tell--but what difference did that make! _Helena was that kind of
a woman_--though he'd always thought her true to him since he'd known
her--and Thornton, whatever kind of a man he was, wouldn't run away from
her arms, would he?

The red glow from the ruby ring had vanished--the man had risen from his
seat and was placing something in the box on top of the ring--Madison's
mind subconsciously absorbed the fact that it was a little sheaf of
yellow-backed bills. And now the man bent to the table and was writing
in the book.

Yellow-backs and rubies! Rubies and yellowbacks! Madison's lips thinned
and curled downward at the corners. Oh, it was coming all right, money,
jewels, pelf, rolling in merrily every day, there wasn't any stopping
it, but he was paying for it, and paying for it at a price he didn't
like--Helena. Helena! She wanted Thornton, did she--with his money!
Wanted to dangle a millionaire on her string--eh? She'd throw him
over--would she! And she thought she had him where he couldn't lift a
finger to stop it--just sit back and grin like a poor,