She had frightened him now. She heard him catch his breath. “What is the matter with you?” he demanded. “What--!” Then his tone changed. He leaned toward her, his hand upon the center table. “Say, Reliance,” he whispered, anxiously, “you are fooling, aren’t you? She is in this house, isn’t she? Look here, if she is hiding from me--if she has got the idea that I am mad with her or anything like that--why, she needn’t be. We had a row, she and I, up at the house this noon; maybe she told you about it, I don’t know. Well, that’s all right. I-- Here! Why do you keep looking at me like that?... What is that thing?” Reliance was proffering him an envelope which she had taken from the bosom of her dress. He gazed at it, then snatched it from her hand. “Eh?” he gasped. “It’s from her, isn’t it? What is she writing me letters for?... Good God, woman, what has happened? Where is she? Why don’t you tell me?” Reliance shook her head. “Read your letter first,” she said. “It will tell you almost everything and I will try and tell you the rest.... Oh, Foster,” in an irrepressible burst of agonized sympathy. “I am _so_ sorry for you.” She did not wait to see him open the envelope, but ran into the kitchen and closed the door behind her. She remained there for perhaps ten minutes, it seemed much longer to her. When she reëntered the sitting-room he was seated in the rocker, the letter which Esther had written him dangling in his limp fingers, and upon his face a look which wrung her heartstrings. She came toward him and laid her hand upon his shoulder. “I am _so_ sorry for you, Foster,” she said again. He scarcely seemed to notice her presence. He did not speak. “You have read the letter?” she faltered, after a moment. He heard her then and straightened in the chair. “I have read it,” he muttered. “Yes, I’ve read it.” “Well--you see? It is done now and we can’t change it. So--” He threw her hand from his shoulder and rose to his feet, crumpling the letter in his fist as he did so. He snatched his hat from the floor where it had fallen. “Change it!” he growled, between his teeth. “We’ll see whether we can change it or not. If that low-lived son of a skunk thinks he has got me licked I’ll show him he is mistaken. He has made a fool of her with his slick tongue, but he hasn’t married her yet, and it’s a long time between now and morning.... Get out of my way!” He would have pushed her aside but she clung to his arm. “Wait--wait!” she begged. “You must wait. You don’t understand. He _has_ married her. They were married an hour ago. She is his wife.” He stopped short. She still clung to him, but, as he made no move to go, she loosed her hold. When she looked up into his face she was shocked and alarmed. “Foster--Foster!” she urged. “Please--please! Come and sit down. Let me tell you all about it. There is so much to tell. You can’t do anything. It is too late. No one could have stopped it. I tried my best, but-- Oh, please sit down and listen!”