hold of
it--I'll explain in the morning. It seems that your pretty client has
been hoodwinking _caro sposo_ for two years--all the time looking like
a Botticello angel, all pure soul and sublimated thought, dressed
always in shades of gray--pearl gray, Penn!" laughed Flagg; "a dove
with the heart of a---- There's the bell! Come down early to-morrow,
there's work ahead for us all."

The first thing that Robert did as he sank into his seat was to note
the shade of Helen's gown--it was a dull lead color!

If jealousy is once allowed so much as a finger tip within the portals
of a heart, the chances are that within an inconceivably short time he
will be in entire possession, sprawled all over the place, yelling for
corroboration and drinking it thirstily until madness comes.

Every little unrelated incident in Robert's home life fell suddenly
into place under suspicion's nimble fingers. Up to that time he had
been reasonably sure of the integrity of his hearthstone. Only within
those eight weeks had these new symptoms been developing in the
conduct of the wife of his bosom, the mother of his little daughter,
Betty. Her curiously happy exaltation, her absentmindedness, her long,
smiling reveries; the look of flushed excitement on her pretty face,
the odd impression of breathlessness; the muttering of strange words
in her sleep, followed by bursts of almost ribald laughter. Could it
be possible that she was leading a double life, like that other
woman?---a life to which he had no latchkey?

What was that devilish thing in "The Cross of Berny"--from Gautier's pen,
if he remembered rightly, among those four royal collaborateurs--"To
call a woman--my wife! What revolting indiscretion! To call
children----" But the thought of little Betty hushed even his mad
imaginings.

However, it was his business to fathom all this mystery at once. An
idealist was a blind ass--look at Perry!

Penn did not rest well that first night after the problem play, nor
for many nights to come.

One morning a question of law came up at the office that made it
expedient that one of the firm should go at once to Washington to
consult a supreme authority, and Robert was sent, that he might have
the benefit of even that small change of scene. He rushed home to
throw a few things into a bag and kiss his wife and Betty good-by. He
opened the front door with his latchkey as usual, and as usual called
out:

"Helen, where are you?"

There was a low c