ir in the way and it caught my foot."

Helen did not look altogether satisfied, but let the matter go.

"Has the hail done much damage to the wheat?"

"Yes," said Festing, with grim quietness. "I imagine it has done all the
damage that was possible. So far as I could see, the crop's wiped out."

They were sitting near together, and Helen, leaning forward, put her
hand on his arm with a gesture of sympathy.

"Poor Stephen! I'm dreadfully sorry. It must have been a blow."

Festing's hard look softened. "It was. When I stopped beside the wreck I
felt knocked out, but getting home braced me up. I begin to feel I might
have had a worse misfortune and mustn't exaggerate the importance of the
loss."

Helen was silent for a few minutes, but she was sensible of a certain
relief. She was sorry for her husband, but there was some compensation,
since it looked as if a ray of light had dawned on him. Although she had
struggled against the feeling, she was jealous of the farm that had kept
him away from her.

"I think you sowed too large a crop, and you could not have gone on
working as you have done," she said. "It would have worn you out."

Festing put down his pipe and looked at her with surprise. "You don't
seem to understand that I'll have to work harder than before."

"I don't understand," said Helen, taking away her hand. "To begin with,
it's impossible; then I'd hoped the loss of money, serious as it is,
would have made you cautious and, in a sense, more content."

"You hoped the loss of the money--!" Festing exclaimed. "Did you ever
know losing money make anybody content? The thing's absurd!"

Helen made a gesture of protest. "Stephen, dear, try to see what I mean.
You have been doing too much, running too big risks, and fixing all your
thought upon the farm. It has made you irritable and impatient, and
the strain is telling on your health. This could not go on long, and
although I'm truly sorry the wheat is spoiled, it's some relief to know
you will be forced to be less ambitious. Besides, it's foolish to be
disturbed. Neither of us is greedy, and we have enough. In fact, we have
much that I hardly think you value as you ought."

"I haven't enough; that's the trouble."

"Oh," said Helen, "you know that all I have belongs to both."

"It doesn't," Festing answered in a stubborn tone. "You don't seem to
realize yet that I can't change my views about this matter. I've lost
most of my money, but that's no reason