Soon, however, she heaved a deep sigh and looked up to smile at the
serious faces opposite her. "Well, perhaps there is a great happiness in
store for your good friend, to repay him for all he has silently endured
these past years."

"We sincerely hope so!" affirmed Polly, earnestly. "If anyone deserves
peace and joy, dear Dalky does."

"How little the world really knows of the sorrows of those who bear their
cross in silence!" sighed Mrs. Courtney. "Now, I have heard said that Mr.
Dalken is a very gay personage who knows how to make the most of his
money and time. But that report came from his wife, so I took it with a
grain of salt. I know from my own experience just how the sinner tries to
smear the saint with his own crimes although I do not mean by that that I
am a saint."

"Surely you had no unhappy experience in your life, Mrs. Courtney!"
exclaimed Eleanor, not from curiosity but from the desire to hear her
esteemed friend declare that she had had only joy in her days. Mrs.
Courtney understood the motive that urged the question.

"My dear children, my married experience was much like that of your
beloved friend. The difference being that my gay husband used my position
and wealth to boost himself to the place where he found more agreeable
companions than I proved to be. Out of sheer self-respect I was forced to
divorce him. Then I began my wanderings over the globe, and finally
settled in this city where I was practically unknown. You see, my pride
could not brook the pity of my friends although they approved the only
course open for me when my husband eloped with another man's wife."

"Oh, dear Mrs. Courtney!" sighed Eleanor, ready tears springing to her
eyes. But Polly crept over and placed a sympathetic hand upon that of her
hostess.

"It seems ages ago, my children," added Mrs. Courtney. "I was only
eighteen when I married and I was twenty-one when I divorced my husband.
I never had a child, and I have always felt as though I had been given a
very wretched deal in life, for I love children. Because of my
experience, I can advise other young girls--not to marry too young, nor
to accept a man for his looks or manners. A girl needs to be experienced
from business, or travel and association with men, before she is capable
of judging wisely and selecting the proper mate for life."

The bond created that morning between the mature woman and the two young
girls, proved to be of such quality as would last.