trouble came, whether it could be helped
or could not be helped. If the former, then it was "up and about it;"
if the latter, tears were useless, and to make the best of the
irrevocable was the way of wisdom.

In an hour she had conquered the physical weakness which spoke by
weeping. A suspicion of cruelty gave her the salutary stimulus of a
lash; she sat upright and began to plan. The next day she went out,
sold a bracelet, hired a cab, and went from one manager to another
until she succeeded. Brought face to face with the question of work
and wage, all the shrewd calculating instincts of a race of women
accustomed to chaffer and bargain awoke within her. She sold her wares
to good advantage, and she knew she had done so. Then a long-nascent
distrust of Roland's business tact and ability sprang suddenly to
vigorous life. She realised in a moment all the financial mistakes of
the past winter. She resolved not to have them repeated.

The sea air soon restored all her vigour and her beauty. She gave
herself to study and to practice with an industry often irritating to
Roland. It reproached his own idleness and it deprived him of her
company. He did indeed rehearse his characters, and in a stealthy way
he endeavoured to find a better engagement for Denasia. He was sure
that if he were successful there would be no difficulty in inducing,
or if necessary compelling, his wife to accept it. He could as easily
have made Queen Victoria accept it. For with the inherited shrewdness
of her class she had also their integrity. She would have kept any
engagement she made even if it had ruined her.

The winter was a profitable one, though not as happy as Denasia had
hoped it would be. They had no debts and were able to indulge in many
luxuries, and yet Roland was irritable, gloomy, and full of unpleasant
reminiscences and comparisons. He thought it outrageous for Moss to
refuse the payment of his wife's salary to him. And Denasia had a
disagreeable habit of leaving a large portion of her income with the
treasurer of the company, and then sending her costumer and other
creditors to the theatre for payment. Indeed, she was developing an
independence in money matters that was extremely annoying to Roland.
He felt that his applications to Elizabeth were perpetual offences to
Denasia, and if he had been a thoughtful man he would have understood
that this separation of their interests in financial matters was the
precursor of a much wider