a notice to that effect in a
newspaper, but there were no comments and I did not know that she had
made me guardian of our child. That was like Antoinette," he continued,
in gentler tones; "she was invariably generous and considerate of my
shortcomings, even after we realized we were not fitted to live
together. Her renunciation of me seemed harsh, at first, for I could
not understand her ambitions, but in fact she drove me to success. I
have won the Grand Prize, after all these years of patient labor, and
from now on my future is assured."

"Have you never longed for your child?" asked Mary Louise
reproachfully.

"I have, indeed. In imagination I have followed Alora's growth and
development year by year, and one of my most cherished anticipations
when coming here was to seek out my daughter and make myself known to
her. I knew she had been well provided for in worldly goods and I hoped
to find her happy and content. If my picture received favorable comment
at the exhibition I intended to seek Alora. I did not expect to win the
Grand Prize."

* * * * * * * *

It was this newly discovered Jason Jones and his daughter--who already
loved him and shyly clung to this responsive and congenial parent--who
went to Dorfield with the Colonel and Mary Louise and Peter Conant and
Josie O'Gorman to attend the obsequies of the other less fortunate
Jason Jones. Mrs. Orme was there, too; Mrs. Janet Orme Jones; for she
admitted she was the dead man's wife and told them, in a chastened but
still defiant mood, how the substitution of her husband for the other
artist had come about.

"Many years ago, when I was nursing in a New York hospital," she said,
"a man was brought in with both arms broken, having been accidentally
knocked down by a street-car. I was appointed to nurse him and learned
from him that he was Jason Jones, a poor artist who was, however, just
about to win recognition. He showed me a newspaper clipping that highly
praised a painting then being exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, which was signed Jason Jones. I know now that it wasn't his
picture at all, but the work of his cousin, but at the time the
clipping deceived me.

"I was ambitious to become something more than a nurse. I thought that
to be the wife of a famous artist would bring me wealth and a position
in society, so I married Jason Jones--without love--and he married me--
also without love--in order to get my wages. He won where I lost, for
d