“Any self-respecting woman would do the same,” she said quietly.

Hadley shrugged his shoulders.  Cynically he replied: 

“Some might, most wouldn’t.  You don’t find women in our set making sacrifices even for a principle when it comes to giving up their comforts and their luxuries.  I think you’ve acted splendidly and so does Bob, only he won’t admit it.  He’s a good fellow at heart.  The trouble was that he married too late in life.  His habits were formed.  He did not realize that to be happy in married life one must give as well as take; in other words, that a really happy marriage is a compromise.  Always having had his own way, accustomed to imposing his will upon that of others, he failed to realize that when he married he conferred certain rights on the woman to whom he gave his name.  Now it is different.  He sees his mistake.  It has been a bitter lesson to him.”

A deep flush spread over Virginia’s pale face.  What did these words mean?  Could it be true that her husband still loved her?

“You see him sometimes?” she murmured.

“Almost every day.  I dined with him at the club last night.”

“Is he well?”

Hadley made no answer, but bending forward, looked more closely at his friend’s wife.  He took quick note of her tired-looking eyes, the pallor of her face.  Slowly he said: 

“And you?  Are you well?  I think that is more important.”

She smiled wearily as she answered: 

“Oh, I’m a little tired, that’s all.  This work is very confining.  In fact, I’ve quite gotten out of the way of it.”

He looked at her intently for a moment in silence.  Then he said: 

“I had no idea where you had gone.  None of his friends knew.  Some think you are abroad.  Bob has let that impression get about.  Even I, his most intimate friend, did not know all the particulars!  I guessed the truth.  Yet Bob knew where you were.”

Virginia, startled, looked up quickly: 

“He knows?” she exclaimed.

Hadley nodded.

“Yes—­he has employed a man to watch you constantly from a distance.  Not because he believed you would ever give him cause for divorce—­to be fair to him, that has never entered his mind; but he wanted someone to watch over you, protect you—­”

Virginia flushed; her heart was beating violently.  In a low tone, she said: 

“He has done that?” she exclaimed.  “Then he has not forgotten me after all—­”

The young man laughed.

“Forgotten you!  I should think not.  You are never out of his thoughts.  He won’t admit it, but I know it.  He loves you to-day better than he ever did.”

“Then why, if he knows where I am, doesn’t he come to me?”

Hadley clenched his fist.  Vehemently, almost angrily, he answered: 

“Because he’s a fool.  He said he wouldn’t come to you until you sent for him, and he hasn’t the moral courage to change his mind—­he’s afraid to be laughed at.”