"And when? When, dearest?"

"As soon as you are ready."

"But--can you drop this at once?"

"I shall not drop it."

Her voice was low, very low, but clear and steady.

He rose to his feet with a muffled exclamation, and walked the length of
the piazza and back.

"Do you realize that you are saying no to me, Diantha?"

"You are mistaken, dear. I have said that I will marry you whenever you
choose. But it is you who are saying, 'I will not marry a woman with a
business.'"

"This is foolishness!" he said sharply. "No man--that is a man--would
marry a woman and let her run a business."

"You are mistaken," she answered. "One of the finest men I ever knew has
asked me to marry him--and keep on with my work!"

"Why didn't you take him up?"

"Because I didn't love him." She stopped, a sob in her voice, and he
caught her in his arms again.

It was late indeed when he went away, walking swiftly, with a black
rebellion in his heart; and Diantha dragged herself to bed.

She was stunned, deadened, exhausted; torn with a desire to run after
him and give up--give up anything to hold his love. But something,
partly reason and partly pride, kept saying within her: "I have not
refused him; he has refused me!"

CHAPTER XIII. ALL THIS.

They laid before her conquering feet
The spoils of many lands;
Their crowns shone red upon her head
Their scepters in her hands.

She heard two murmuring at night,
Where rose-sweet shadows rest;
And coveted the blossom red
He laid upon her breast.

When Madam Weatherstone shook the plentiful dust of Orchardina from
her expensive shoes, and returned to adorn the more classic groves of
Philadelphia, Mrs. Thaddler assumed to hold undisputed sway as a social
leader.

The Social Leader she meant to be; and marshalled her forces to that
end. She Patronized here, and Donated there; revised her visiting list
with rigid exclusiveness; secured an Eminent Professor and a
Noted Writer as visitors, and gave entertainments of almost Roman
magnificence.

Her husband grew more and more restive under the rising tide of social
exactions in dress and deportment; and spent more and more time behind
his fast horses, or on the stock-ranch where he raised them. As a
neighbor and fellow ranchman, he scraped acquaintance with Ross Warden,
and was able to render him many small services in the process of
settling.

Mrs. Warden remembered his visi