"He told me about ... about your driving with that Richard woman yesterday afternoon." "Mmm.... Yes, she is a friend of Lane's. He introduced me, I believe." Her eyes fired. "You said you were at strike headquarters." "So I was, until I took a little run out Hazelton way. Then I came back and finished up my work," he lied recklessly. "He saw you at Catawba. That's ten miles beyond Hazelton.... You didn't get back until midnight last night, Pelham." "Why, I was here for supper! Then I had to go down town...." "You were with Miss Richard again." She ventured a chance shot. His jaw stiffened, the occasional look of childish petulance smoldering around his eyes. "What if I was? Do you expect me to be locked in by a keeper every night?" "You never mentioned her ... except meeting her." His mind squirmed. "We have so much else to talk about." She pushed the disorder of letters backward with a gesture of irritation. "It was a risk marrying you. Every one said so; you had been splendid with me, but before that--you told me yourself--you'd switched from this girl to that.... You had something up with 'Thea Meade, I never asked what.... And the girls while you were in college, Nellie Tolliver and the rest. I never minded them; that was before I knew you. But this.... Do you think I have no shame, even if you haven't?" "What a lot of side about nothing! Here I merely meet a young lady, take her riding, drop by to see her--what's wrong in that?" Her low, tense indictment went on, partly to herself. "I always promised myself that I wouldn't marry a ladies' man. It isn't so much what you've done in this case, as the tendency," she continued illogically. "If everything was above-board, why didn't you tell me that you were with her yesterday afternoon and night?" "Because it was my business, and not yours." His tones rose angrily. "Must I render an account to you for every minute of my time? Can't I have some self-respect left? Do you expect to keep me tied to your apron-strings all my life?" "You needn't tell me, Pelham Judson, that you took her riding to show her the scenery. I know you better--by now. She made a few large eyes at you; you thought at once that you saw your soul-mate. Told her you were misunderstood at home, of course--that she could understand you." He failed completely to detect the scorn, intended to wither his defense. "What if I did? It's true, isn't it? We get along finely on lots of things, Jane; but there are some things in which we can't agree." "We both agree, I suppose, that the marriage agreement doesn't call for you to make love to other girls, when you are married to me. Of course, you kissed her----" "What if I did?" His retort slipped from his lips too quickly; he wished at once that he had held it back. "There's surely no harm----" "I won't dare hold up my head in her sight!"