"As you say," said Dick, in sprightly fashion, "the best thing is to

forget the whole incident. Lenox, if you will give me those papers, I

must be off."

"Our lines lie parallel," said the Swami. "Will you permit that I walk

with you?"

The four who remained stood awkwardly during the departure, and with the

closing of the door, Mr. Lenox gave an inarticulate ejaculation.

"Miss Elton," he said, "I think your problem is solved."

"You mean it was Mrs. Percival?"

"You are as sure as I."

"And Dick knew," said Ellery. He blushed as he spoke.

"Oh no, Mr. Norris!" cried Madeline in sharp distress. "That would he

unendurable. And besides, he said he didn't."

"Dick lied," Ellery stated calmly.

"I will never believe that Dick would lie."

"He certainly lied," Ellery persisted. "Any man would lie to protect the

woman he loves."

"Never!" exploded Mrs. Lenox. "Frank, you would not lie for me!"

"Assuredly I would," her husband answered quietly, "if you needed lying

for."

She looked at him with speechless dismay.

"Therefore," Ellery went on, "it behooves a man to love a woman who

demands truth and not untruth as her reasonable service. The

responsibility rests with you women. You can not only make men lie, but

you can make them believe that there is no such thing as truth in the

universe. Isn't it so, Lenox?"

Mr. Lenox smiled and nodded, Jove-like.

"Oh, yes, they pull some strings," he said; "but don't cocker them up

too much. Don't make them think we are nothing but clay in their hands."

"You couldn't, because, to our sorrow, we know better," retorted his

wife.

"Nevertheless, you've unsettled everything," said Madeline dejectedly.

"But, Miss Elton," Norris put in, "you must not think that I believe

that a man is without responsibility for the kind of woman he loves.

That is where the first turning up or down comes in. He's no right to

give his soul to the thing that is mean or base. He has the right to

choose his road, but after he's chosen, he has to travel wherever the

road leads. Dick's disintegration began from the moment that he met

Miss Quincy. I've known it for a long time."

"Poor little thing!" said Madeline. "She is so small. I hope she will

grow to be something like a mate for Dick."

"Do not flatter yourself with wishes," cried Mrs. Lenox. "There's only

one soil in which the soul can grow, and that is love. Unless I misread

her, there is no room in her for anything but Lena Quincy Percival."

"And yet," objected Ellery, "she is certainly not a person weighted with

intellect. I should say she is all impulse and emotion."

"Anomalous but by no means uncommon, Mr. Norris," she rejoined. "All

emotion, yet without emotion of the heart. In her little world, self

lies at the equator, and every one else is pushed off to the frozen

poles."




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