-was in love with him."

"Did you know her?"

"No. She was not the sort of person you do know. She was simply a
pretty, underbred little governess. He met her--on the staircase, I
imagine--in some house he was staying in, and, as I say, she was in
love with him. She was a scheming little wretch, and she and her
people made him believe that he had compromised her in some shadowy
way. I suppose he _had_ paid her a little ordinary attention--I
don't know the details. Anyhow, he was so fantastically honorable
that he married her."

"Poor thing. It must have been awful for her, to be married in that
way--for honor!"

"She didn't consider it awful in the least. She didn't mind what she
was married _for_, so long as she _was_ married. She was that sort.
Do I bore you?"

"No. You interest me immensely."

"Of course they were miserable. He couldn't make her happy. Wilton
is, in his way, a rather spiritual person, and his wife was anything
but. Marriage can be an awful revelation to a nice woman. Sometimes
it's a shock to a nice man. Wilton never got over _his_ shock. It
left him with a morbid horror of the thing. That's what has
prevented him from marrying again."

Miss Nethersole drew a perceptible breath before going in deeper.

"I've heard people praising his faithfulness to his wife's memory.
They little know. He was loyal enough to the poor woman while she
lived, but he's giving her away now with a vengeance. Several very
nice women would have been more than willing to marry him; but as
soon as he knew it----"

"Knew it? How could he know it?"

"Well, the ladies were very transparent, some of them. And when they
weren't there was always some kind person there to make them so. And
when he saw through them--he was off. You could see the horror of it
coming over him, and his poor terrified eyes protesting--'I'd do
anything for you--anything, my dear girl, but that.'"

Julia paused, as if on the brink of something still profounder.
Evidently she abhorred the plunge, while Freda shrank from the
horrible exposure of the shallower waters.

"And those women," said Julia, after meditation, "wondered why they
lost their friend. They might have kept him if they'd only kept
their heads."

It was at this point that Freda felt that Julia was trying to drag
her in with her.

"How awful," said she, "to feel that you'd driven a man away!"

"It might be more awful," said Julia, "for him to feel he had to
go."

"That's