"I _will_ stay here!" he said, fiercely. "I will _not_ fly again! The worst that could happen _has_ happened. Where should I go to escape my fate? Why should I attempt it? No! I swear to live my life here, and to live it as a man should live with God's help, and _yours_, Barbara!" he implored. "Will you drive me to despair? Will you forsake me, or will you help me?" A shiver shook the woman's slight form, and she passed her hand across her eyes once or twice, before reaching it toward him. A piteous smile quivered across her lips, but her eyes did not seek his. He seized her hand, and again threw himself before her. "I am your wife, Jamie," she said, gently. "Your wife, for better or for worse. Whatever I can do to help you, I will do." Then at last the eyes of the two met in a long, long gaze, and in that moment Dixon read his fate. Everything else might, and did, come back to him--the esteem and confidence of his fellow-men, worldly success, aye, and the blessing of God upon the work to which he dedicated the best portion of his remaining years--the raising up of the fallen and unfortunate; all these things came to him in time, but one thing he forever missed--the old look of perfect, unquestioning trust in one woman's eyes, the eyes of the woman for whose sake he had sinned. TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise every effort has been made to remain true to the authors' words and intent. End of Project Gutenberg's Stories by American Authors, Volume 10, by Various