did not answer one word this was the hardest blow of all i m much obliged to you for being so friendly she said after a few minutes looking before her now in a d sort of way and lifting the new coat from the floor where it had fallen yes he s dead to me � worse than dead a good deal and her lip quivered i can t seem to bring my thoughts to bear i ve got so used to � no don t you say to the folks yet i d do as much for you and mrs knew that the smitten fellow creature before her spoke the truth and f two or three days came and went and with marsh every hour the quiet simple hearted woman felt more grieved and unsteady in mind and body such a of news rarely falls into a human life she could not sleep she wandered to and fro in the little house and cried until she could cry no longer then a great rage and excited her she would go to and call lane to account she would accuse him face to face and the woman whom he was deceiving as perhaps he had deceived her should know the and cowardice of this miserable man so dressed in her respectable sunday clothes in the gray bonnet and shawl that never had known any journeys except to meeting or to a country funeral or quiet lane trusted herself for the first time to the bewildering railway to the temptations and dangers of the wide world outside the bounds of two or three days later still the quaint thin figure familiar in flitted down the street of a provincial town in the most primitive region of china this woman could hardly have felt a greater sense of foreign life and strangeness at another time marsh her native good sense and shrewd observation would hav delighted in the experiences of first week of travel but she was too sternly angry and too deeply plunged in a survey of her own calamity to take much notice of what was going on about her later she condemned the unworthy folly of the whole errand but in these days the impulse to seek the and him was the s wife a kindly creature had urged this guest to wit and rest and eat some supper but refused and without asking her way left the brightly lighted little public room where curious eyes already offended her and went out into the damp twilight the voices of the street boys sounded and she felt more and more lonely she longed for to appear for protection s sake she forgot why she sought him and was eager to shelter herself behind the of his manhood she herself presently with terrible bitterness for a wonder whether he would say why girl and be glad to see her poor woman it was a work laden serious that had been hers at any rate the marsh power of giving her whole self in unselfish enthusiastic patient devotion had not belonged to her youth only it had sprung fresh and in her heart as every new year came and went one might have seen her stealing through the shadows the edge of a lumber yard stepping among the refuse of the harbor side asking a question timidly now and then of some by yes they knew lane � his house was only a little way off and one curious and compassionate by some inner sense the exciting nature of the errand turned back and offered to go with the stranger you know the man he asked he is his own enemy but doing better now that he is married he minds his work i know that well but he s taken a good wife s heart beat faster with honest pride for a moment until the shadow of the ugly truth and reality made it sink back to and the fire of her rage wa again kindled she would speak to face to face before she slept and a horrible contempt and scorn were for him as with a glance either way marsh along the road she entered the narrow yard and went noiselessly toward the window of a low poor looking house from whence a bright light was shining out into the night yes there was and it seemed as if she must faint and fall at the sight of him how young he looked still the thought smote her like a blow they never were mates for each other and she her own life was she was an old woman he never had been so and respectable before the other woman ought to know the savage truth about him for all that i but at that moment the other woman stooped beside the supper table and lifted a baby from its cradle and put the dear live little thing into its father s arms the baby as wide awake and laughed at who laughed back again and it reached up to catch at a handful of the curly hair which had been poor s delight the other woman stood there looking at them f of pride and love she was young and and neat she looked a brisk efficient little creature perhaps would make something of himself now he always marsh had it in him the tears were running down s cheeks the rain too had begun to f all she stood there watching the little household sit down to supper and noticed with eager envy how well cooked the food was and how the master of the house ate what was put before him all thoughts of ending the new wife s sin and folly vanished away she could not enter in and break another heart hers was broken already and it would not matter and lane a widow indeed crept away again as silently as she had 