uation. Carelessly he said:

"Is it something about Bob?"

Thus encouraged, she spoke up frankly, just as if she were talking to
an elder brother:

"Yes, that's it. Was--was my husband fond of wine as a young man? I
can ask you this--you've been so intimate with him." Hastily and with
a forced laugh she added: "I don't mean that he drinks to excess now,
but I wondered if as a young man he ever took more than was good for
him. I don't see how he could have done, for it would have interfered
with his career."

Hadley puffed seriously at his cigar. A kindly man by disposition, he
really felt sorry for this brave little woman who was trying to make
light of a tragedy. Slowly he replied:

"I'm sorry to say that Bob has always had a _penchant_ in that
direction. It has not interfered with his success, but when he's under
the influence of liquor he's not himself. He seems to quite lose
self-control." Looking at her closely, he added: "He hasn't been
drinking since your marriage, has he?"

Virginia colored.

"Oh, no indeed," she replied hastily. "He wouldn't drink now, I'm
sure, if only out of regard for me."

Hadley was about to say more, when suddenly the library door opened
and Stafford entered, hat in hand. Addressing his friend and without
so much as glancing at his wife, he said curtly:

"Coming over to the club, Hadley? There's a poker game on to-night. I
promised to take a hand."

The two men went away together and that night Virginia sobbed herself
to sleep.

Another month went by and imperceptibly, almost unnoticed by
themselves, the coolness between husband and wife grew. There was no
open quarrel, not even a cross word; but Stafford stayed out nearly
every night and Virginia, left alone in the great library with only
books for companions, wondered if this was the happy married life she
had prayed for.

One night the servants were awakened by a commotion at the front door.
Their master, returning from the club, had stumbled and fallen down
the stoop. Oku picked him up, and Stafford, luckily unhurt, staggered
unaided to his room. Half an hour later the stillness of the night was
again disturbed--this time by a woman's shrill scream of fright and a
man's voice raised in tones of angry command. To the servants it
seemed as if the sounds came from their mistress' room.

Thus the months passed, and to the outside world, which obtained only
an occasional glimpse into the Stafford household, the railroad m