hat it was no longer necessary
for him to impose upon Simmy's hospitality, and that he was returning that
evening to his hotel. George was out of danger. It was then that he said
to Anne:

"You have been wonderful, Anne. I want to thank you for what you have done
to help me. You might have made the situation impossible, but--well, you
didn't, that's all. I am glad that you and that poor little woman in there
have become such good friends. You can do a great deal to help her--and
George. She is a brick, Anne. You will not lose anything by standing by
her now. As I said before, you can always reach me by telephone if
anything goes wrong, and I'll drop in every morning to--"

"I want you to know, Braden, that I firmly believe you saved George for
us. I shall not try to thank you, however. You did your duty, of course.
We will let Lutie weep on your neck, if you don't mind, and you may take
my gratitude for granted." There was a slightly satirical note in her
voice.

His figure stiffened. "I don't want to be thanked," he said,--"not even by
Lutie. You must know that I did not come into this case from choice. But
when Lutie insisted I--well, there was nothing else to do."

"Would you have come if I had asked you?" she inquired, and was very much
surprised at herself.

"No," he answered. "You would have had no reason for selecting me, and I
would have told you as much. And to that I would have added a very good
reason why you shouldn't."

"What do you mean?"

"I may as well be frank, Anne. People,--our own friends,--are bound to
discuss us pretty thoroughly from now on. No matter how well we may
understand each other and the situation, the rest of the world will not
understand, simply because it doesn't want to do so. It will wait,--rather
impatiently, I fear,--for the chance to say, 'I told you so.' Of course,
you are sensible enough to have thought of all this, still I don't see why
I shouldn't speak of it to you."

"Has it occurred to you that our friends may be justified in thinking that
I _did_ call upon you to take this case, Braden?" she asked quietly.

He frowned. "I daresay that is true. I hadn't thought of it--"

"They also believe that I summoned you to take charge of my husband a few
weeks ago. No one has advised the world to the contrary. And now that you
are here, in the same house with me, what do you suppose they will say?" A
queer little smile played about her lips, a smile of diffidence and
apolo