the trembling gradually ceased. He sat on the arm of her
chair, and his hand rested gently upon her shoulder.

"Dear Julia," he said, "I am glad that you have been honest. Life is
always full of these emotions, you know, especially for highly-strung
people, and sometimes the atmosphere gets a little overcharged and they
blaze out as they have done this evening, and perhaps one is the better
for it."

She remained quite motionless during his brief pause. One hand had
moved from before her face and had gripped his.

"There's our work, you know, Julia," he went on. "There isn't
anything in the world must interfere with that. We can't divide our
lives, can we? We ought not to want to. If I could make you
understand--can I, I wonder?--how splendid it is to have some one here
by my side who understands. It seems to me that I am going to be a
little lonely. I shall have to stand on my own feet a good deal. I
rely so much upon you, Julia. You are a woman, aren't you--I mean a
real woman? I need you."

Very slowly she raised her head. Her eyes met his freely. There was
something of the childlike adoration of an instinctive and triumphant
purity in the smile which parted her lips. Maraton understood at once
that the danger was past. The thunder had left the air.

"You know that I am your slave," she murmured. "Don't be afraid that I
am becoming neurotic. You see, this was all a little new to me, and for
a moment I felt that I wanted to go and hide myself. That has all
passed now. I am not even ashamed. I suppose one gets terrified with
receiving so much, and wants to give. It's a very natural feminine
impulse, isn't it? And I shall give--my fingers, my brain--all I
possess."

She rose suddenly to her feet and glanced at the clock.

"What a day you must have had!" she exclaimed. "You are not going to
look at my Sheffield figures, even, before the morning. Oh, you'll be
surprised when you see them! You've a wonderful case. Some of the
fortunes that have been made there--that are being made there now--are
barbaric. I mustn't talk about it, or I shall get angry. Listen,
there's Aaron."

They heard the sound of his latch-key. A moment later he entered the
room. He looked anxiously at Maraton; Julia he scarcely noticed.

"I took him home," he announced. "He never spoke a word the whole way;
seemed stupid. I shouldn't be surprised if he hadn't got a little
concussion.

"Did you send for a doctor?" Maraton asked.

"His la