I wouldn't regret any change. When a man goes ahead and his wife
stands still the right and wrong of what either chooses to do is
hard to settle. At any rate, it has ceased to concern me. I want a
few years of happiness and companionship before I die. I'm
selfish--I'll pay the price."

They rode on in silence.




CHAPTER VIII


When Lorelei awoke on the following afternoon her first inquiry
was for Jim; but he had not come home, and her mother knew nothing
of his whereabouts. Lorelei ate her breakfast in silence; then, in
reply to a question, accounted for the lateness of her arrival by
saying that she had dined with Mr. Merkle.

At the name Mrs. Knight pricked up her ears; vulture-like, she
undertook to pick out of her daughter all that had occurred, down
to the most insignificant detail. Lorelei had always made a
confidant of her mother in such cases, even to the repetition of
whole conversations; but this time the latter's inquisitiveness
grated on her, and she answered the questions put to her
grudgingly. Just why she felt resentful she scarcely knew.
Certainly she had no interest in Mr. Merkle, nor suffered the
least embarrassment over their exploit. Rather, on this afternoon,
she beheld with unusual clarity her present general life, and that