Mrs. Verdon answered, "and she will
suit him exactly. He is a man who will demand a great deal of devotion
from his wife, and she will give him all he needs. It would have been
bad for him if he had married a woman whose supply was not equal to the
demand."

"What do you suppose would have happened in that case?" Mrs. Tell asked.

"She would have been bored, and he would have been disappointed and
restless. I think he would have taken to wandering again; but there is
no fear of that now. You will see that this will be an ideal marriage."

Having said this, Katherine went quietly out of the room and took her
way upstairs to the side of Jamie's bed. He was asleep; but the heat had
flushed him, and he tossed the bed-clothes away from his rosy limbs and
murmured in his sleep. Nurse had gone down to her supper; there was no
one to see Katherine as she bent over the child with a look of
tenderness in her eyes.

"My life is in my own hands," she thought.

"I have not given up myself to any one else, and it is better as it is.
I love the boy; he is the only thing I really care for."

Just then he gave another toss, and opened his eyes with a fretful
little wail. Seeing Katharine, he put out his arms and said, "Mammy!"

She soothed him with her sweet voice and soft touch, gave him a draught
of lemonade, and then laid him down again, calmed and refreshed, to fall
into a deep slumber. Yes, it was all well, she repeated to herself; she
had her own life, her own pleasures, her own ways; to give up anything
that was hers, to change any of her plans, would have cost her more than
it costs most women. She was not fond of making sacrifices; she had
never loved well enough to know the sweetness of self-surrender.

Arnold Wayne had taken her fancy, but he had never won her heart. It is
true that he had not tried to win it, and Katherine did not care to ask
herself whether he would have succeeded if he had tried. She had felt
one slight pang of jealousy when she had been told of his engagement,
and that was all. This quiet half-hour spent by Jamie's bed had set
everything right in her life. She understood herself now, and could even
think of something pretty to give Miss Kilner for a wedding present.

"Jamie shall give her something from himself," she decided. "He is very
fond of her, and she is really a nice woman. I wish them well--yes, in
all sincerity I wish them well."

If there were others who did not feel as kindly as Kat