loved it so. Then came her testing time. She had arrived late at
night and gone to a hotel. No one had noticed her. The next morning as
she went into the breakfast-room, some one rose hastily, with an
exclamation. It was her husband's business partner.

How she ever got through her own explanations she did not know, then she
heard him speaking.

"Yes, Mrs. Barkley, we had given you up for lost with the others on that
fated ship. And I cannot express my regret at the sorrow you have
returned to meet."

"I--sorrow--why?" She stared at him wonderingly.

He looked surprised, then understood. Claire listened silently to his
brief, sincere sympathy as he told her how her husband had died during
the winter of pneumonia.

"It has been nearly six months now," he finished, "and, of course, I am
very sorry for you. If I can do anything to help you, don't hesitate to
call on me, please."

"Thank you. I--I won't."

She heard her own voice change. Stifled, she fled up-stairs.

Her grief was sincere, unshaded by any selfish thought that it made her
own course easier or more justifiable in the eyes of society. To her,
Howard Barkley's death changed nothing save that the man whom she had
once loved sincerely was now no more.

But the living remained, and to the call of the living her life was
henceforth joyfully dedicated.

(The end.)

[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the
original edition have been corrected.]

In Chapter V, "tenements she had visted in her charity work" was changed
to "tenements she had visited in her charity work".

In Chapter VII, a missing quotation mark was added after "What, indeed,
is moral law?"

In Chapter IX, "disdiscover what she was" was changed to "discover what
she was".

In Chapter X, "Disliking him as he did" was changed to "Disliking him as
she did".

In Chapter XI, "as abnormal as her depondency had been before" was
changed to "as abnormal as her despondency had been before".

In Chapter XVIII, "I promise to an emotionless judge" was changed to "I
promise to be an emotionless judge", and "harded and harder to wait" was
changed to "harder and harder to wait".

In Chapter XX, "clearly defined discusion" was changed to "clearly
defined discussion", and "the overwelming appreciation of beauty in
nature" was changed to "the overwhelming appreciation of beauty in
nature".

[Transcriber's Note: The following summary originally appeared a