he were to lie a
querulous invalid for twenty years, would you be able to fold him in
your arms all that time, and comfort him, as a mother comforts her
little child?" The woman drew her breath heavily.

"Oh, I love him absolutely! I would be glad to die, if only I could once
know that he loved me better than anything in the world!"

The woman stood looking down at her. "Have you never thought of that
other woman; whether she could not perhaps make his life as perfect as
you?" she asked, slowly.

"Oh, no woman ever could be to him what I would be. I would live for
him. He belongs to me." She bent herself forward, not crying, but her
shoulders moving. "It is such a terrible thing to be a woman, to be able
to do nothing and say nothing!"

The woman put her hand on her shoulder; the younger woman looked up into
her face; then the elder turned away and stood looking into the
fire. There was such quiet, you could hear the clock tick above the
writing-table.

The woman said: "There is one thing I can do for you. I do not know if
it will be of any use--I will do it." She turned away.

"Oh, you are so great and good, so beautiful, so different from other
women, who are always thinking only of themselves! Thank you so much.
I know I can trust you. I couldn't have told my mother, or any one but
you."

"Now you must go; I have my work to finish."

The younger woman put her arms round her. "Oh, you are so good and
beautiful!"

The silk dress and the fur cloak rustled out of the room.

The woman who was left alone walked up and down, at last faster and
faster, till the drops stood on her forehead. After a time she went up
to the table; there was written illegibly in a man's hand on a fragment
of manuscript paper: "Can I come to see you this afternoon?" Near it was
a closed and addressed envelope. She opened it. In it were written the
words: "Yes, please, come."

She tore it across and wrote the words: "No, I shall not be at liberty."

She closed them in an envelope and addressed them. Then she rolled
up the manuscript on the table and rang the bell. She gave it to the
servant. "Tell the boy to give this to his master, and say the article
ends rather abruptly; they must state it is to be continued; I will
finish it tomorrow. As he passes No. 20 let him leave this note there."

The servant went out. She walked up and down with her hands folded above
her head.

*****

Two months after, the older woman stood before