t they filled her heart with dread in spite of every effort
to laugh them off.

"How could Jane Anderson dare say such things?" she muttered angrily.
"`A coarse, illiterate brute!' It's a lie! a lie! a lie!" She stamped
her foot in rage. "He's strong and brave and masterful--a man among
men--he's my mate and I love him!"

And yet the frankness with which her friend had spoken had in reality
disturbed her beyond measure. Through every hour of the day her
uneasiness increased. After all she was utterly alone and her life
had been pitifully narrow. Her knowledge of men she had drawn almost
exclusively from romantic fiction.

It was just a little strange that Jim persisted in living so completely
in the present and the future. He had told her of his pitiful childhood.
He had told her of his business. It had been definite--the simple
statement he made--and she accepted it without question until Jane
Anderson had dropped these ugly suspicions. She hated the meddler for
it.

In the light of such suspicions the simplest, bravest man might seem a
criminal. How could her friend be blind to the magnetism of this man's
powerful personality? Bah! She was jealous of their perfect happiness.
Why are women so contemptible?

She began a careful study of every trait of her lover's character,
determined to weigh him by the truest standards of manhood. Certainly
he was no weakling. The one abomination of her soul was the type of the
city degenerate she saw simpering along Broadway and Fifth Avenue at
times. Jim was brave to the point of rashness. No man with an ounce of
cowardice in his being could handle a car in every crisis with such cool
daring and perfect control. He was strong. He could lift her body as if
it were a feather. His arms crushed her with terrible force. He could
earn a living for them both. There could be no doubt about that. His
faultless clothes, the ease with which he commanded unlimited credit
among the automobile manufacturers and dealers--every supply store on
Broadway seemed to know him--left no doubt on that score.

There was just a bit of mystery and reserve about his career as an
inventor. His first success that had given him a start he had not
explained. The big deal about the new carburetor she could, of course,
understand. He had a workshop all his own. He had told her this the
first day they met. She would ask him to take her to see it this
afternoon. The storm would prevent the trip to the Beach. Sh