a deeper subject might well be
introduced.

Yet Barry, at least, would cheerfully have ignored that subject; for he
foresaw, with friendship's intuition, that the thing he had to say would
effectually mar and break the midnight peace; and as the moment drew
near in which he must strike a fatal blow at his friend's serenity he
fell into an embarrassed silence very unlike his recent cordiality.

At last it came--the question he had dreaded.

"I say, Barry, have you seen much of Vivian lately?" Although the
subject affected the speaker so vitally, he was so calmly, confidently
sure of the reply that his tone was quiet and unagitated. Even though
Barry paused for a quite perceptible fraction of time before he replied,
the other man was too certain of the answer to notice the pause.

"I ... I have seen her--yes." He spoke without removing his pipe from
between his teeth, which might account for the curious thickness of his
tone.

"And how is she? All right, I suppose? You see"--Owen laughed rather
diffidently--"my return was to be a surprise to her. I wasn't coming for
another couple of months, you know, and then all at once I couldn't bear
it any longer. I simply _had_ to come."

"But--haven't you corresponded all this time?"

"Well, not regularly. You know Vivian hates writing letters as much as I
do; and I couldn't give her any settled addresses while we were moving
about, so we agreed that we would not expect much from each other in
that way!"

"I see. But--you _have_ heard from her?"

"Oh, yes, now and then. Of course she had my banker's address and could
cable to me from time to time. I got one cable from her in December--on
my birthday, it was--and she said she was writing, but I never got the
letter."

"In December. I see." And so he did--saw a vision of half-unwilling
treachery, of hesitating loyalty, of dying faith, which turned his heart
sick within him.

"I wrote to her for Christmas, of course, and sent her a card now and
then." He seemed to be excusing his own quite allowable slackness in the
matter. "You see, I really had no time for letter-writing, and I knew
she would understand and forgive me."

"You ... did you tell her you were coming home to-day?"

"Yes. I wired to her a week ago.... I half expected she'd come down to
meet me." He laughed shamefacedly. "But you know what her people are. I
expect they'd think it frightfully unnecessary to do that. Of course,
I'm going there first thing in