ne!
His mother sick and head over heels in debt to the Waldstrickers! The
situation was becoming more complicated by the hour. He sat down by the
open window to think. The simple thing, and what he really wanted to do,
was to announce his marriage and let himself and the others take the
consequences. He didn't intend to give up Tess, and for a few minutes
his memory was alive with all the suffering of his brave young wife
during the past two years. What she had done for his sister Teola made
him shudder with grief. There was no other woman in the world like Tess,
and the sweetness of his intimate experiences since his marriage touched
him to tears.

"I won't give her up," he groaned aloud, "whatever happens, I'll stand
by Tess. She's worth all the rest--I love her better than life itself.
In the morning I'll tell mother and Madelene the truth."

But no sooner had he reached this conclusion, than the many embarrassing
consequences his confession entailed presented themselves. He could hear
his mother's querulous complaints. She hated Tess, blaming the little
squatter girl for the trouble which had made her an invalid and taken
her husband from her. Would he be compelled to choose between his
affection for his mother and his love for Tess? No, surely not that!

Yet there was Madelene! How could he face her, after all that had
happened. He bitterly regretted his weakness in permitting the girl to
avow her love for him, in engaging himself to her.

And worst of all, that harrowing debt! He groaned at the thought of it.

Madelene had told him, "Your mother won't have to worry any more, dear.
We can send her away for a nice, long rest, and when Professor Young's
lease is up, we'll fix the lake place for a summer home."

"If I could marry Madelene," he thought, "the debts--"

He got up, lighted a cigarette, his fingers shaking so he almost dropped
the match. He couldn't marry Madelene!

Yet to acknowledge his relation to the squatter girl meant a certain and
final break with the Waldstrickers, the financial ruin of himself and
his mother.

Even at that cost, he must do it. Tessibel was his wife, his dear little
wife. He had promised to make a home for her. But how? Could they get
along at all, and what would he do with her impossible father? As his
mother had said, he had no ability to earn anything. Bitter tears of
discouragement filled his eyes.

Suddenly, a thought found its way into his brain and seemed to clear