“No—­I have failed and it is all over,” was the first distinct thought that he framed.  “By her own act she has put the last barrier between us.  She is my wife no longer, for, through herself, she has brought disgrace upon us both.”  Again he remembered the sacrifices he had made for her, not with the generous rejoicing of the morning, but with a fierce bitterness which was like a bodily hurt.  “She is no longer my wife,” he repeated; “nor am I her husband—­for by her own sin she has made me free.”  Yet the word carried no conviction to his conscience, and he knew, in spite of his assurance, that nothing had happened since yesterday to change the relations between Connie and himself—­that if he had pitied her then there was only the double reason why he should pity her now.  Had this added wrong made her less helpless? had it put moral fibre into her heart?  “All this had happened yesterday—­had happened even six months ago, yet last night I sat by her bed—­I was filled with sympathy—­and was it only because I was in ignorance then of something which I know now?  Yesterday I sacrificed for her both my rest and my work, but was she worthier of pity at that hour than she is at this.  She has not changed since, nor has the thing which I have just discovered; it is only I who am different because it is I alone who have come into knowledge of the evil.”

He thought of the hideousness of it all—­of the punishment that awaited her, of her convulsed face, of her violent gestures, and even of the pale pink chiffon gown, which made her resemble a crushed blossom as she lay upon the bed.  That was only last night, and yet in the reality of experience a thousand years had intervened in his soul since then.

The next instant he remembered again, with a throb of exhilaration that he was free.  By her own act she had given him back his freedom—­she had returned him to his life and to his work.  As for her if she chose to fall back into her old bondage, who was there in heaven or on earth that could hold him to account?  Every law that had been made by man since the beginning of law was upon his side; and every law declared to him that he was free.  Free!  The word went like the intoxication of joy to his head; then, even while the exhilaration lasted, he shivered and came abruptly to a halt.

From the light of the crossing a woman had come close to him and touched him upon the arm, making her immemorial appeal with a sickening coquetry in her terrible eyes.  She was, doubtless, but the ordinary creature of her class, yet coming as she did upon the brief rapture of his recovered liberty, she appeared as a visible answer to the question he had asked his soul.  He shook his head and walked on a few steps; then coming back again he gave her the money that was in his pocket.