e morning, isn't it?'

'Yes.'

Rhoda took the sheet and quickly ran through its contents. Her face
hardened, and she threw down the letter with a smile of contempt.

'What do you advise?' asked the elder woman, closely observing her.

'An answer in two lines--with a cheque enclosed, if you see fit.'

'Does that really meet the case?'

'More than meets it, I should say.'

Miss Barfoot pondered.

'I am doubtful. That is a letter of despair, and I can't close my ears
to it.'

'You had an affection for the girl. Help her, by all means, if you feel
compelled to. But you would hardly dream of taking her back again?'

'That's the point. Why shouldn't I?'

'For one thing,' replied Rhoda, looking coldly down upon her friend,
'you will never do any good with her. For another, she isn't a suitable
companion for the girls she would meet here.'

'I can't be sure of either objection. She acted with deplorable
rashness, with infatuation, but I never discovered any sign of evil in
her. Did you?'

'Evil? Well, what does the word mean? I am not a Puritan, and I don't
judge her as the ordinary woman would. But I think she has put herself
altogether beyond our sympathy. She was twenty-two years old--no
child--and she acted with her eyes open. No deceit was practised with
her. She knew the man had a wife, and she was base enough to accept a
share of his attentions. Do you advocate polygamy? That is an
intelligible position, I admit. It is one way of meeting the social
difficulty. But not mine.'

'My dear Rhoda, don't enrage yourself.'

'I will try not to.'

'But I can't see the temptation to do so. Come and sit down, and talk
quietly. No, I have no fondness for polygamy. I find it very hard to
understand how she could act as she did. But a mistake, however
wretched, mustn't condemn a woman for life. That's the way of the
world, and decidedly it mustn't be ours.'

'On this point I practically agree with the world.'

'I see you do, and it astonishes me. You are going through curious
changes, in several respects. A year ago you didn't speak of her like
this.'

'Partly because I didn't know you well enough to speak my mind. Partly
yes, I have changed a good deal, no doubt. But I should never have
proposed to take her by the hand and let bygones be bygones. That is an
amiable impulse, but anti-social.'

'A favourite word on your lips just now, Rhoda. Why is it anti-social?'

'Because one of the supreme social needs of