His smile in saying it was so boyish that she too dropped the manner of what they were talking about and faintly smiled back at him. It seemed to help her gain possession of herself and she returned to the other with a crisp, "And so, as I understand it, you thought you'd just drop in and set everything right?" He flushed and looked at her a little reproachfully. Then he said, simply, "It seemed worth trying." He took a letter from his pocket. "I got this from my sister this morning. The girl who has been working for her has gone away. Her mother came and took her away. She had 'heard.' They're always 'hearing.' This has happened time after time." "Now just let me understand it," she began in that faintly mocking way, though her voice was shaking. "You propose that I do something to make the--the servant problem easier for your sister. Is that it? I am to do something, you haven't yet said what, to facilitate the domestic arrangements of the woman who is living with my husband. That's it, isn't it?" she asked with seeming concern. He reddened, but her scoffing seemed to give him courage, as if he had something not to be scoffed at and could produce it. "It can be made to sound ridiculous, can't it?" he concurred. "But--" he broke off and his eyes went very serious. "You never knew Ruth very well, did you, Mrs. Williams?" he asked quietly. The flush spread over her face. "We were not intimate friends," was her dry answer, but in that voice not steady. He again colored, but that steady light was not driven from his eyes. "Ruth's had a terrible time, Mrs. Williams," he said in a quiet voice of strong feeling. "And if you had known her very well--knew just what it is Ruth is like--it seems to me you would have to feel sorry for her." She seemed about to speak again in that mocking way, but looking at his face--the fine seriousness, the tender concern--she kept silence. "And just what is it you propose that I do?" she asked after a moment, as if trying to appear faintly amused. Very seriously he looked up at her. "It would help--even at this late day--if you would get a divorce." She gasped; whether she had been prepared for it or not she was manifestly unprepared for the simple way he said it. For a moment she stared at him. Then she laughed. "You are a most amazing young man!" she said quiveringly. As he did not speak, but only looked at her in that simple direct way, she went on, with rising feeling, "You come here, to _me_, into my house, proposing that--in order to make things easier for your sister in living with my husband--I get a divorce!" He did not flinch. "It might do more than make things easier for my sister," he said quietly. "What do you mean?" she demanded sharply. "It might make things easier for you." "And what do you mean by _that_?" she asked in that quick sharp way. "It might make things easier," he said, "just to feel that, even at this late day, you've done the decent thing."