e up for the years of cruelty
and hunger and suffering through which he passed. What right have you
to sit in judgment on him without a hearing? You've known him two
hours----"

Jane shrugged her shoulders.

"Two minutes was quite enough."

"And you judge by what standard?"

"My five senses, and my sixth sense above all. One look at his square
bulldog jaw, his massive neck and the deformity of his delicate hands
and feet! I hear the ignorant patois of the East Side underworld.
I smell the brimstone in his suppressed rage at my dislike. There's
something uncanny in the sensuous droop of his heavy eyelids and the
glitter of his steel-blue eyes. There's something incongruous in his
whole personality. I was afraid of him the moment I saw him."

Mary broke into hysterical laughter.

"And if my five senses and my intuitions contradict yours? Who is to
decide? If I loved him on sight----If I looked into his eyes and saw
the soul of my mate? If their cold fires thrill me with inexpressible
passion? If I see in his massive neck and jaw the strength of an
irresistible manhood, the power to win success and to command the
world? If I see in his slender hands and small feet lines of exquisite
beauty--am I to crush my senses and strangle my love to please your
idiotic prejudice?"

Jane threw up her hands in despair.

"Certainly not! If you're blind and deaf I can't keep you from
committing suicide. I'd lock you up in an asylum for the insane if I had
the power to save you from the clutches of the brute."

Mary drew herself erect and faced her friend.

"Please don't repeat that word in my hearing--there's a limit to
friendship. I think you'd better go----"

Jane rose and walked quickly to the door, her lips pressed firmly.

"As you like--our lives will be far apart from tonight. It's just as
well."

She closed the door with a bang and reached the head of the stairs
before Mary threw her arms around her neck.

"Please, dear, forgive me--don't go in anger."

The older woman kissed her tenderly, glad of the dim light to hide her
own tears.

"There, it's all right, honey--I won't remember it. Forgive me for my
ugly words."

"I love him, Jane--I love him! It's Fate. Can't you understand?"

"Yes, dear, I understand, and I'll love you always--good-by."

"You'll come to my wedding?"

"Perhaps----"

"I'll let you know----"

Another kiss, and Jane Anderson strode down the stairs and out into the
night with a sicke