, she had no doubt, he had acquired by long
years of honest toil.

Bristol expressed himself aghast at the depravity of women, and told
Mrs. Winslow that it seemed to him that the nearer the grave they got
the more terrible their greed and hideousness became.

Mrs. Winslow murmured that _she_ was not so very, _very_ old.

"Quite the contrary," said Bristol, gallantly, "and even when you become
so, I am sure--very sure, that you will prove a marked exception."

An expression of pleasure flitted into her face, succeeded by one of
evident pain--pleasure, probably, that she had made another dupe as she
supposed; pain, that in one swift moment there had flashed into her mind
some terrible picture of her cursed, lonely, homeless old age, when the
whole world should scoff at her and thrust her from it, like the vile
thing that she was and the hideous thing that she would surely become;
both followed by the set features, where the cruel light came into her
eyes and the swift shuttles of crimson and ashy paleness shot over her
curled lips--the outward semblance of the inward tigress, that, though
diverted for an instant by some little sunlight-flash of either
tenderness or regret, never could be won from its irrevocably awful
nature!

But it was all gone as soon as it had come, and she sat there, to all
appearances a handsome woman, as modestly and carefully as possible
encroaching upon the grounds of a first after-marriage flirtation, and
in a few moments pleasantly said: "I have become so interested in
you, Mr. Bristol, that I have found myself asking the question: Why is
it that this gentleman is continually in my mind? until, do you know, I
have such a curiosity about you that I shall be perfectly delighted to
get better acquainted with you."

Bristol gracefully acknowledged the compliment by stating to her that he
himself, since he had seen her, had had a strange feeling that he should
know more about her, and the presentiment was still so strong upon him
that he was now quite sure that he _should_.

"Ever since I saw you I have felt that we should become intimate,"
continued Mrs. Winslow radiantly.

"And I may myself confess that ever since I saw you, Mrs. Winslow, I
really _knew_ that I should be obliged to search you out and remain near
you."

Mrs. Winslow blushed and coyishly asked: "Mr. Bristol, do you believe in
affinities?"

[Illustration: _"Do you believe in affinities, Mr. Bristol?"--_]

"Most assured