."

"HER? Of whom, dearest?" he asked, leaning over her tenderly.

"Of Kitty--of your wife," she said impatiently, as she drew back shyly
with her former intense gaze.

He did not seem to grasp her meaning, but said gravely, "Let us not
talk of her NOW. Later we shall have MUCH to say of her. For," he added
quietly, "you know I must tell her all."

The color faded from her cheek. "Tell her all!" she repeated vacantly;
then suddenly she turned upon him eagerly, and said, "But what if she is
gone?"

"Gone?" he repeated.

"Yes; gone. What if she has run away with Van Loo? What if she has
disgraced you and her child?"

"What do you mean?" he said, seizing both her hands and gazing at her
fixedly.

"I mean," she said, with a half-frightened eagerness, "that she has
already gone with Van Loo. George! George!" she burst out suddenly and
passionately, falling upon her knees before him, "do you think that I
would have followed you here and told you what I did if I thought that
she had now the slightest claim upon your love or honor? Don't you
understand me? I came to tell you of her flight to Boomville with that
man; how I accidentally intercepted them there; how I tried to save her
from him, and even lied to you to try to save her from your indignation;
but how she deceived me as she has you, and even escaped and joined her
lover while you were with me. I came to tell you that and nothing more,
George, I swear it. But when you were kind to me and pitied me, I was
mad--wild! I wanted to win you first out of your own love. I wanted you
to respond to MINE before you knew your wife was faithless. Yet I would
have saved her if I could. Listen, George! A moment more before you
speak!"

Then she hurriedly told him all; the whole story of his wife's dishonor,
from her entrance into the sitting-room with Van Loo, her later appeal
for concealment from her husband's unexpected presence, to the use she
made of that concealment to fly with her lover. She spared no detail,
and even repeated the insult Mrs. Barker had cast upon her with the
triumphant reproach that her husband would not believe her. "Perhaps,"
she added bitterly, "you may not believe me now. I could even stand that
from you, George, if it could make you happier; but you would still have
to believe it from others. The people at the Boomville Hotel saw them
leave it together."

"I do believe you," he said slowly, but with downcast eyes, "and if I
did not love you