blood in his veins, for he understood now the meaning of
the look which had so puzzled him. In Morris' heart there was a moment's
hesitancy to know just what to answer, an ejaculatory prayer for
guidance, and then lifting up his head, his calm blue eyes met the eyes
of black unflinchingly, as he replied:

"I have loved her always."

A blaze like sheet lightning shot from beneath Wilford's eyelashes, and
a taunting sneer curled his lip, as he said:

"You, a saint, confess to this?"

It was quite natural, and in keeping with human nature for Wilford to
thrust Morris' religion in his face, forgetting that never on this side
the eternal world can man cease wholly to sin, that so long as flesh and
blood remain, there will be temptation, error and wrong, even among
God's children. Morris felt the sneer keenly; but the consciousness of
peace with his Maker sustained him in the shock and, with the same tone
he had at first assumed, he said:

"Should my being what you call a saint prevent my confessing what I
did?"

"No, not the confession, but the fact," Wilford answered, savagely. "How
do you reconcile your acknowledged love for Katy with the injunctions of
the Bible whose doctrines you indorse?"

"A man cannot always control his feelings, but he can strive to overcome
them and put the temptation aside. One does not sin in being tempted,
but in listening to the temptation."

"Then according to your own reasoning you have sinned, for you not only
have teen tempted, but have yielded to the temptation," Wilford
retorted, with a sinister look of exultation in his black eyes.

For a moment Morris was silent, while a struggle of some kind seemed
going on in his mind, and then he said:

"I never thought to lay open to you a secret which, after myself, is, I
believe, known to only one living being."

"And that one--is--you will not tell me that is Katy?" Wilford
exclaimed, his voice hoarse with passion, and his eyes flashing with
fire.

"No, not Katy. She has no suspicion of the pain which, since I saw her
made another's, has eaten into my heart, making me grow old so fast, and
blighting my early manhood."

Something in Morris' tone and manner inspired Wilford with awe, making
him relax his grasp upon the arm, and sending him back to his chair
while Morris continued:

"Most men would shrink from talking to a husband of the love they bore
his wife, and an hour ago I should have shrunk from it, too, but you
have force