y old
men for love. There may be pity, or sentiment, or duty--but never love.
More often than not it is avarice, Wade."

"Quite true," said he. "I am glad to have you speak so frankly to me,
ma'am. It proves that you are interested in my welfare."

"Who is she, Wade?" she inquired.

Lutie had passed into the library, leaving them together in the hall. She
had experienced a sudden sensation of nausea. It was impossible for her to
remain in the presence of this shattered old hulk and still be able to
keep the disgust from showing itself in her eyes. She was the wife of a
real man, and the wife of a man whom she could love and caress and yield
herself to with a thrill of ecstasy in her blood.

"The young lady I was speaking to you about some weeks ago, madam,--the
daughter of my friend who conducts the _delicatessen_ just below us in
Sixth Avenue. You remember I spoke to you of the Southern lady reduced to
a commercial career by--"

"I remember. I remember thinking at the time that it might be the mother
who would prevail--I am sorry, Wade. I shouldn't have said that--"

"It's quite all right," said he amiably. "It is barely possible--ay, even
probable,--that it was the mother who prevailed. They sometimes do, you
know. But Marian appears to have a mind of her own. She loves me, Mrs.
Thorpe. I am quite sure of that. It would be pretty hard to deceive me."

Through all of this Anne was far from oblivious to the sinister
comparisons the man was drawing. She had always been a little afraid of
him. Now an uneasy horror was laying its hold upon her. He had used her as
an example in persuading a silly, unsophisticated girl to give herself to
him. He had gone about his courtship in the finery his dead master had
left behind him.

"I thank you for your good wishes, Mrs. Thorpe," he went on, smoothly. "If
it is not too much to ask, I should like to have you say a few good words
for me to Marian some day soon. She would be very greatly influenced by
the opinion of so great a lady as--"

"But I thought you said it was settled," she broke in sharply.

"It is settled," he said. "But if you would only do me the favour
of--er--advising her to name an earlier day than the seventeenth, I--"

"I cannot advise her, Wade," said she firmly. "It is out of the question."

"I am sorry," he said, lowering his gaze. "Mr. Thorpe was my best friend
as well as my master. I thought, for his sake, you might consent to--"

"You must do your