not that from which she most recoiled, but from the fact that
Strefford, living in luxury in Nelson Vanderlyn's house, should
at the same time have secretly abetted Ellie Vanderlyn's love-
affairs, and allowed her--for a handsome price--to shelter them
under his own roof. The reproach trembled on her lip--but she
remembered her own part in the wretched business, and the
impossibility of avowing it to Strefford, and of revealing to
him that Nick had left her for that very reason. She was not
afraid that the discovery would diminish her in Strefford's
eyes: he was untroubled by moral problems, and would laugh away
her avowal, with a sneer at Nick in his new part of moralist.
But that was just what she could not bear: that anyone should
cast a doubt on the genuineness of Nick's standards, or should
know how far below them she had fallen.

She remained silent, and Strefford, after a moment, drew her
gently down to the seat beside him. "Susy, upon my soul I don't
know what you're driving at. Is it me you're angry with-or
yourself? And what's it all about! Are you disgusted because I
let the villa to a couple who weren't married! But, hang it,
they're the kind that pay the highest price and I had to earn my
living somehow! One doesn't run across a bridal pair every
day ...."

She lifted her eyes to his puzzled incredulous face. Poor
Streff! No, it was not with him that she was angry. Why should
she be? Even that ill-advised disclosure had told her nothing
she had not already known about him. It had simply revealed to
her once more the real point of view of the people he and she
lived among, had shown her that, in spite of the superficial