ent on, "for days I can hardly look at him!
And yet, strange as it may seem, I still love him! I love him to-day
better than I ever loved him. Why? I do not know. If it wasn't for
just that one thing I could be the happiest woman in the world."

"Poor little girl," murmured Fanny, consolingly.

At that moment there was a sharp rap on the door. The elder sister
quickly went to open.

"It's James," she said, "shall I let him in?"

"Certainly," replied Virginia.

CHAPTER XIII

Mr. James Gillie looked to-day an entirely different person to what he
had appeared when he first came courting his wife. He had never lacked
a bold front, at any time, but in those early days his salary of $14
per did not permit any great latitude in the important matter of
furnishing his wardrobe. Compelled to be satisfied with the cheapest
ready-made garments, the knowledge of his sartorial shortcomings had
always exercised a certain sobering effect on him, especially when in
presence of his superiors. But now conditions had changed. Thanks to
his present employer's liberality, he was able to stamp himself with
the hall mark of success. As Robert Stafford's right-hand man, drawing
$5,000 a year, self-denial was no longer necessary; he could indulge
his taste to the limit. Dressed in a fashionably cut evening dress
coat, with white tie and waistcoat, patent-leather pumps and silk
socks with embroidered trees, anyone might have easily taken him for a
gentleman--until they heard him talk. His speech, crude and slangy as
ever, seemed to have lagged behind in his climb toward business and
social recognition.

Nor could it be said that the young man, so fertile in ideas, had
lived up to all the brilliant promises which he had made. After two
years rich with opportunities of a kind which fall to the lot of few
men, he had accomplished nothing that was at all likely to prove of
lasting or even temporary benefit to his fellow man. Much to his
astonishment and mortification, his most cherished inventions had been
openly derided as little better than the ravings of a lunatic, and he
soon discovered that no one in the railroad office--not even the
office boy--took him seriously. He was tolerated by the office staff
because he happened to be the husband of the boss' sister-in-law, but
no one dreamed for an instant of entrusting him with any work
involving responsibility. He was given an occupation in which he would
do the least harm, and for h