Van Bibber drew in his breath sharply, with a peculiar
whistling sound, and opened and shut his hands. "Oh, I
wouldn't say that if I were you," he said, simply.

"I beg your pardon," the older man said, quickly. "That
was a mistake. I was wrong. I beg your pardon. But you have
tried me very sorely. You have intruded upon a private
trouble that you ought to know must be very painful to me.
But I believe you meant well. I know you to be a gentleman,
and I am willing to think you acted on impulse, and that you
will see to-morrow what a mistake you have made. It is not a
thing I talk about; I do not speak of it to my friends, and
they are far too considerate to speak of it to me. But you
have put me on the defensive. You have made me out more or
less of a brute, and I don't intend to be so far
misunderstood. There are two sides to every story, and there
is something to be said about this, even for me."

He walked back to his place beside the mantel, and put
his shoulders against it, and faced Van Bibber, with his
fingers twisted in the cord around his waist.

"When I married," said Mr. Caruthers, "I did so against
the wishes of my people and the advice of all my friends. You
know all about that. God help us! who doesn't?" he added,
bitterly. "It was very rich, rare reading for you and for
every one else who saw the daily papers, and we gave them all
they wanted of it. I took her out of that life and married
her because I believed she was as good a woman as any of those