ever since I left them fifteen minutes ago? I've been calling myself a
cad--a downright cad."

"And why, may I ask?"

"Because Veath isn't one--that's all."

"But you are a man--a true, noble, enduring one. The year just gone has
changed you from the easy, thoughtless boy into the strong man that you
are, just as it has made of me a woman."

"I am no longer the harlequin?" he interposed eagerly.

"The harlequin's errand is accomplished, dear. The spangles and glitter
are gone. Pure gold has come in their stead. It won't wear out. God has
worked out this end for all of us. In His own good time He rectifies our
errors and points the new way."

"I am but a year older than when I began."

"It isn't time that makes the man."

"It's opportunity, after all. I wasn't a man when I dragged Grace Vernon
away from home; I was a fool--a callow boy in--"

"That was a year ago, Hugh, dear. What was I two years ago?"

"A rich man's wife. I was a rich man's son."

"You were the rich man's son by chance. I was a rich man's wife from