who had never had to work for their living, and I was bound
that my friends and your friends should recognize her and
respect her as my wife had a right to be respected; and I took
her abroad that I might give all you sensitive, fine people a
chance to get used to the idea of being polite to a woman who
had once been a burlesque actress. It began over there in
Paris. What I went through then no one knows; but when I came
back--and I would never have come back if she had not made
me--it was my friends I had to consider, and not her. It was
in the blood; it was in the life she had led, and in the life
men like you and me had taught her to live. And it had to
come out."

The muscles of Mr. Caruthers's face were moving, and
beyond his control; but Van Bibber did not see this, for he
was looking intently out of the window, over the roofs of the
city.

"She had every chance when she married me that a woman
ever had," continued the older man. "It only depended on
herself. I didn't try to make a housewife of her or a drudge.
She had all the healthy excitement and all the money she
wanted, and she had a home here ready for her whenever she was
tired of travelling about and wished to settle down. And I
was--and a husband that loved her as--she had
everything--everything that a man's whole thought and love and
money could bring to her. And you know what she did."

He looked at Van Bibber, but Van Bibber's eyes were still
turned towards the open window and the night.