d was glad she might solace his
sadness a little while.

With consummate skill the man led her to talk of himself, his hopes in
youth, his disappointments, his bitter sadness, his heart loneliness. He
suddenly asked her to call him Milton, and the girl with rosy cheeks and
dewy eyes declared shyly that she never could, it would seem so queer,
but she finally compromised after much urging on "Cousin Milton."

"That will do for a while," he succumbed, smiling as he looked at her
with impatient eyes. Then with growing intimacy in his tones he laid a
detaining hand upon hers that held the bridle, and the horses both
slackened their gait, though they had been far behind the rest of the
party for over an hour now.

"Listen, little girl," he said, "I'm going to open my heart to you. I'm
going to tell you a secret."

Hazel sat very still, half alarmed at his tone, not daring to withdraw
her hand, for she felt the occasion was momentous and she must be ready
with her sympathy as any true friend would be. Her heart swelled with
pride that it was to her he came in his trouble. Then she looked up into
the face that was bending over hers, and she saw triumph, not trouble,
in his eyes. Even then she did not understand.

"What is it?" she asked trustingly.

"Dear child!" said the man of the world impressively, "I knew you would
be interested. Well, I will tell you. I have told you of my sorrow, now
I will tell you of my joy. It is this: When I return to New York I shall
be a free man. Everything is complete at last. I have been granted a
divorce from Ellen, and there remain only a few technicalities to be
attended to. Then we shall be free to go our ways and do as we choose."

"A divorce!" gasped Hazel appalled. "Not you--divorced!"

"Yes," affirmed the happy man gaily, "I knew you'd be surprised. It's
almost too good to be true, isn't it, after all my trouble to get Ellen
to consent?"

"But she--your wife--where will she go? What will she do?" Hazel looked
up at him with troubled eyes, half bewildered with the thought.

She did not realize that the horses had stopped and that he still held
her hand which grasped the bridle.

"Oh, Ellen will be married at once," he answered flippantly. "That's the
reason she's consented at last. She's going to marry Walling Stacy, you
know, and from being stubborn about it, she's quite in a hurry to make
any arrangement to fix things up now."

"She's going to be married!" gasped Hazel as