“Hasn’t it made you blue?” he asked. She nodded sympathetically. “But I’m not sorry we went,” she said a moment later. “I’m glad John forgot about me. I shouldn’t like to have seen it with him; but it’s different with you. I mean--” She could not say just what she meant, and with heightened color she added quickly, “But I don’t want to see anything like that again, ever.” “I’ve had enough myself. I’m afraid I’m getting disgusted with the whole business, Dick. I feel that it would be a pleasant change to settle down and live on a farm somewhere, for a while, anyway. Don’t you?” “I was thinking of something like that myself,” she answered thoughtfully. “We could--” she turned away suddenly and glanced up the street. “I mustn’t keep you any longer. I’ve dragged you miles out of your way already. No, I’m going to take the elevated right here.” She had not meant to do it; but as he was leaving her, she said,-- “You’ll--you’re coming down to dinner to-night, aren’t you?” CHAPTER IX DEEPER STILL Harriet Sponley dressed for dinner that evening with more than usual care. She liked to dress well, partly for her own sake, and partly because her husband appreciated it. But to-night she seemed able to find little satisfaction in the result of her efforts. “Your gown is very beautiful,” the maid ventured timidly. Harriet nodded indifferently; then, as with a gesture of impatience, she turned away from the long mirror, her eyes fell upon the neat figure and the fresh face of her girlish attendant. She looked at her so long and so hard that the girl flushed and averted her eyes uneasily. Harriet smiled and patted her shoulder. “I’m very glad you like it,” she said kindly. “Now run along, I shan’t want you any more.” She liked her maid. She petted her, and--so Sponley said--indulged her most outrageously. It was an old weakness of Harriet’s--this fondness for a pretty face. It had been the source of her affection for Alice Blair. As the girl left the room, Harriet dropped upon the little round chair which stood before her dressing table, and resting her elbows on the table, she leaned forward and stared disapprovingly into the small glass which hung above it. The strong, unpitying light which the two incandescent lamps threw upon her face revealed many things she did not wish to see there. What a jaded face it was! And the lines were deeper than they had ever been before. She rubbed her forehead nervously, almost roughly, with her finger tips, as though that would erase them.