“I am almost home, my darling, and all is well.  Be kind to Genevra for my sake.  I loved her once, but not as I love you.”

He never spoke again, and a few minutes later Morris led Katy from the room, and then went out to give his orders for the embalming of the body.

* * * * *

In the little room she called her own, Marian Hazelton sat, her beautiful hair disordered, and her eyes dim with the tears she had shed.  She knew that Wilford was dead, for Morris had told her so, and as if his dying had brought back all her olden love, she wept bitterly for the man who had so darkened her life.  She did not know that at the last he knew she was so near.  She had not expected to see him with Katy present; but now that it was over, she might go to him.  There could be no harm in that.  No one but Morris would know who she was, she thought, and she was making up her mind to go, when there came a timid knock upon the door, and Katy entered, her face very pale, her manner very calm, as she came to Marian, and kneeling down beside her, laid her head in her lap with the air of a weary child who has sought its mother for rest.

“Poor little Katy!” Marian said, caressing her golden hair.  “Your husband, they tell me, is dead.”

“Yes,” and Katy lifted up her head, and fixing her eves earnestly upon Marian, continued:  “Wilford is dead, but before he died he left a message for Genevra Lambert.  Will she hear it now?”

With a sudden start, Marian sprang to her feet, and holding Katy from her, demanded:  “Who told you of Genevra Lambert, and when?”

“Wilford told me months ago, showing me her picture, which I readily recognized,” was Katy’s answer, and a flush of fear and shame came to Marian’s cheek as she continued: 

“Did he tell you all?  And do you hate me as a vile, polluted creature?”

“Hate you, Marian?  No.  I have pitied you so much, knowing you were innocent.  Wilford told me all, but he thought you were dead,” Katy said, flinching a little before Marian’s burning gaze, which fascinated even, while it startled her.

It is not often two women meet bearing to each other the relations these two bore, and it is not strange that both felt constrained and embarrassed as they stood looking at each other.  As Marian’s was the stronger nature, so she was the first to rally, and with the tears swimming in her eyes she drew Katy closely to her, and said: 

“Now that he is gone I am glad you know it.  Mine has been a sad, sad life, but God has helped me bear it.  You say he believed me dead.  Some time I will tell you how that came about; but now, his message—­he left one, you say?”

Carefully Katy repeated every word Wilford had said, and with a gasping cry Marian wound her arms around her neck, exclaiming: 

“And you will love me, not because he did once, but because I have suffered so much?  You will let me call you Katy when we are alone?  It brings you nearer to me.”