in this unpleasant tenement? His heart leaped at the thought of having
her with him again; none but himself could know how greatly he had
missed her, and he could give her food and shelter. But would she,
now, be happy there with him, in all his poverty?

"Ah; you have quarreled?" he ventured, hesitantly.

"No," she faltered.

His wrath rose. Ah, that was it! The woman had been unkind to her, had
asked of her some menial service, had presumed upon the fact that she
was but an employee! "She has mistreated you," he cried, in
indignation. "She has mistreated you! Well, here is--"

Anna interrupted him by laying a soft hand upon his lips. She had to
stretch and strain a little to reach up so far, crouched low there, as
she was, quite at his feet. Her heart was beating very fast as came
the time for her confession. She hoped that he would not be very
angry, very greatly horrified.

"No," she said slowly; "no, we have not quarreled, she has not
mistreated me; but--she will be very angry--she will not forgive me,
when she knows--"

Kreutzer was affrighted. There seemed to him to be a hint of dreadful
revelations to be made in the soft droop of Anna's head, the trembling
of her little hand in his, the swift ebb and flow of the rich color in
the pink satin of her cheeks.

"Anna," he said, aghast, "what is there for her to know? Oh, my