t by the labor
of my hands, I'll never sleep under the same roof with you again.
Never!"

"What nonsense, Zeke! Of course I'll come back! You won't turn me
away! I only want to see a little of the world, to get a few of the
things you can't give me--no blame to you, either!"

He did not seem to hear her.

Almost as if speaking to himself, he went on: "I've feared for some
time you didn't love me. I didn't want to believe it. I was a coward.
I shut my eyes. I took what you gave me--I daren't think of
this--which has come to me! I dared not! God punishes idolatry! He has
punished mine. Be sure you're not making a mistake, Dora! There may be
other men will admire you, my girl--will any of them love you as I do?
There's never a minute I'm not conscious of you, sleeping or waking.
Think again, Dora, before you leave me!"

"I can't, Zeke. I've signed a contract. I couldn't reconsider if I
wanted to. It's just seven minutes to train time. Kiss me--there's a
dear lad--and don't row me any more!"

She raised herself on tip toes and approached her red lips to his
face--lips of an intense color to go with the marked pallor of the
rest of the face, and which surely were never offered to him in vain
before--but he was beyond their seduction at last.

"You've decided?" he said.

"Of course!"

"All right! Good-bye, then! You promised to cleave to me through thick
and thin 'till death did us part.' I'll have no halfway business," and
he turned on his heel, and without looking back he pushed his way
through the crowd, which chatted and fussed and never even noted the
passing of a broken heart.

The pretty creature watched him out of sight.

There was a humorous pout on her lips. But she seemed so sure of her
man! He would come back, of course--when she called him--if she ever
did! Probably she liked him better at that moment than she had liked
him in two years. He had opposed her. He had defied her power over
him. He had once more become a man to conquer--if she ever had time!

But just now there was something more important. That train! It was
three minutes to the schedule time.

As he disappeared into the crowd she drew a breath of relief, and
hurried out of the waiting room and pushed her way to the platform,
along which she hurried to the parlor car, where she seated herself
comfortably, as if no man with a broken life had been set down that
day against her record.

To be sure, she could not quite rid herself of th