you and i might as well understand each other he went on i can see how this thing came about it was a piece of foolishness on my part not to have asked you before and made you tell me it was silly for you to conceal it even if you didn t want the child s life mixed with mine you might have known that it couldn t be done that s neither here nor there though now the thing that i want to point out is that one can t live and hold a relationship such as ours without confidence you and i had that i thought i don t see my way clear to ever hold more than a relationship with you on this basis the thing is too tangled there s too much cause for scandal i know said now i don t propose to do anything hasty for my part i don t see why things can t go on about as they are � certainly for the present � but i want you to look the facts in the face sighed i know she said i know he went to the window and stared out there were some trees in the yard where the darkness was settling he wondered how this would really come out for he liked a home atmosphere should he leave the apartment and go to his club ai c l you d better get the dinner he suggested after a time turning toward her but he did not feel so distant as he looked it was a shame that life could not be more decently organized he strolled back to his and went about her duties she was thinking of of her attitude toward of his final decision never to marry her so that was how one dream had been wrecked by folly she spread the table lighted the pretty silver candles made his favorite put a small leg of lamb in the oven to roast and washed some leaves for a she had been a student of a cook book for some time and she had learned a good deal from her mother all tiie time she was wondering how the situation would work out he would leave her � no doubt of that he would go away and marry some one else oh well she thought finally he is not going to leave right away � that is something and i can bring here she sighed as she carried the things to the table if life would only give her and together but that hope was over l chapter there was peace and quiet for some time after this storm went the next day and brought i away with her the joy of the between mother and child made up for many other now i can do by her as i ought she thought and three or four times the day she foimd herself humming a little song came only occasionally at first he was trying to make himself believe that he ought to do something toward his life � toward bringing about that separation which he had suggested he did not like the idea of a child being in this apartment � particularly that particular child he fought his way through a period of calculated neglect and then began to return to the apartment more regularly in spite pf all its it was a place of quiet peace and very f notable personal comfort during the first days of s return it was for to matters so as to keep the playful nervous almost child from the staid emphatic commercial minded man gave a severe talking to the first night that he was coming telling her that he was a very man who didn t like children and that she mustn t go near him you mustn t talk she said you mi tn t ask questions let mamma ask you what you want and don t reach ever agreed solemnly but her childish mind hardly grasped the full significance of the warning ai d l came at seven who had taken great pains to array as as possible had gone into her bedroom to give her own toilet a last touch was in the kitchen as a matter of fact she had followed her mother to the door of the sitting room where now she could be plainly seen hung up his hat and coat then turning he caught his first glimpse the child looked very sweet � he admitted that at a glance she was arrayed in a blue dotted white dress with a soft roll collar and and the costume was completed by white stockings and shoes her corn colored hung gaily about her face blue eyes rosy lips rosy cheeks completed the picture stared almost inclined to say something but restrained himself retreated when came out he commented on the fact that had arrived rather sweet looking child he said do you have much trouble in making her mind not much she returned went on to the room and a scrap of their conversation who are he asked sh that s your uncle didn t i tell you you mustn t talk are he your uncle no dear don t talk now run into the are he only my uncle yes now run along all right in spite of himself had to smile what might have followed if the child had been homely or all three can scarcely be had been less even in the beginning he might have obtained a disagreeable impression as jt was the natural beauty of the child combined with the mother s gentle in keep l z i ing her in the background served to give him that fleeting glimpse of innocence and youth which is always pleasant the thought struck him that had been the mother of a child all these years she had been separated from 