em I wouldn't have cared."

"You protest then against the serving of these papers on you. Would it
not be better to settle forever the last doubts in so peculiar a
matter?"

"What have I to do with the doubts of an escaped nun, and of Mrs.
Endicott? Must I go to court and stand the odium of a shameful
imputation to settle the doubts of a lunatic criminal and a woman whose
husband fled from her with his entire fortune?"

"It is regrettable," the lawyer admitted with surprise. "As Mrs.
Endicott is perhaps the most deeply interested, I fear that the case
must go on."

"I have come to show you that it will not be to the interest of the two
women that it should go on. In fact I feel quite certain that you will
not serve those papers on me after I have laid a few facts before you."

"I shall be glad to examine them in the interest of my client."

"Having utterly failed to prove me other than I am," Arthur said easily,
while the lawyer watched with increasing interest the expressive face,
"these women have accepted your suggestion to put me under oath as to my
own personality. I would not take affidavit," and his contempt was
evident. "I am not going to permit any public or official attempt to
cast doubt on my good name. You can understand the feeling. My mother
and my friends are not accustomed to the atmosphere of courts, nor of
scandal. It would mean severe suffering for them to be dragged into so
sensational a trial. The consequences one cannot measure beforehand. The
unpleasantness lives after all the parties are dead. Since I can prevent
it I am going to do it. As far as I am concerned Mrs. Endicott must be
content with a simple denial, or a simple affirmation rather, that I am
Arthur Dillon, and therefore not her husband. It is more than she
deserves, because there is not a shred of evidence to warrant her making
a single move against me. She has not been able to find in me a feature
resembling her husband."

"Then, you are prepared to convince Mrs. Endicott that she has more to
lose than to gain by bringing you into her divorce suit?"

"Precisely. Here is the point for her to consider: if the papers in this
suit are served upon me, then there will be no letting-up afterward. Her
affairs, the affairs of this woman Curran, the lives of both to the last
detail, will be served up to the court and the public. You know how that
can be done. I would rather not have it done, but I proffer Mrs.
Endicott the alternative