told that drunken servant girl to go, she went!"

Starratt could feel the rush of blood dyeing his temples. "That's just
in his line!" he sneered. "He's taken degrading orders, and so he
knows how to give them... He may have money now, but he hasn't always
been so fortunate. I've been short of funds in my day, but I never
fought with a dirk for a half loaf of bread... You've heard the story
of his life... What has he got to make him proud?"

"Just that ... he's pulled himself out of it. While we... Tell me,
where are we? Where will we be ten years from now?... Twenty? Why
aren't you doing something?... Everybody else is."

He folded his arms and leaned against the doorway. "Perhaps I am," he
said, quietly. "You don't know everything."

She made a movement toward him. He stepped aside to let her pass.

"What can _you_ do?" she taunted as she swept out of the room.

He stood for a moment dazed at the sudden and unexpected budding of
her scorn. He heard her slam the door of the bedroom. He went over to
the chair from which she had risen and dropped into it, shading his
eyes.

The clock in the hallway was chiming two when the bedroom door opened
again.

"Aren't you coming to bed?" he heard his wife's voice call with sharp
irritation.