I were taking leave
of a formal acquaintance at the end of a formal call.

She did not answer.

I left the room, closing the door behind me. I paused an instant,
heard the key click in the lock. And I burned in a hot flush of
shame--shame that she should have thought so basely of me. For I did
not then realize how far apart we were, and utterly in the dark, each
toward the other. I joined Monson in my little smoking room.
"Congratulate you," he began, with his nasty, supercilious grin, which
of late had been getting on my nerves severely.

"Thanks," I replied, curtly, paying no attention to his outstretched
hand. "I want you to put a notice of the marriage in to-morrow
morning's _Herald_."

"Give me the facts--clergyman's name--place, and so on," said he.

"Unnecessary," I answered. "Just our names and the date--that's all.
You'd better step lively. It's late, and it'll be too late if you
delay."

With an irritating show of deliberation he lit a fresh cigarette
before setting out. I heard her maid come. After about an hour I went
into the hall--no light showed through the transoms of her suit. I
returned to my own part of the flat and went to bed in the spare room
to which Sanders had hastily moved my personal belongings. And almost
as soon as my head touched the pillow I was asleep. That day which
began in disaster--in what a blaze of triumph it had ended! Anita--she
was my wife, and under my roof! But stronger than the sense of victory
won was a new emotion--a sense of a duty done, of a responsibility
begun.

XIV.

Joe got to the office rather later than usual the next morning. They
told him I was already there, but he wouldn't believe it until he had
come into my private den and with his own eyes had seen me. "Well, I'm
jiggered!" said he. "It seems to have made less impression on you than
it did on us. My missus and the little un wouldn't let me go to bed
till after two. They sat on and on, questioning me and discussing."

I laughed--partly because I knew that Joe, like most men, was as full
of gossip and as eager for it as a convalescent old maid, and that,
whoever might have been the first at his house to make the break for
bed, he was the last to leave off talking. But the chief reason for my
laugh was that, just before he came in on me, I was almost pinching
myself to see whether I was dreaming it all, and he had made me feel
how vividly true it was.

"Why don't you ease down, Blacklock?" he went