"'Haven't you!' she said, as much as to tell me she knew, all the same, I must have. 'Why, Mr. Kane, it's all over town. Nobody knows anything, but it's terribly exciting! Some people think she committed suicide, all because of that queer Miss Blake.... She must be--_you_ know! And now she's run away to Europe! I believe she was just afraid to stay over here, afraid she might be found out or arrested--or something!' "That's the way she went on, Mr. Hunt; and, well--naturally, I pooh-poohed it and steered her off, and then she lost interest in me right away. But she's right, Mr. Hunt. There's a lot of that kind of whispered stuff in the air, and I'm mighty glad Susan's off for a year or two where she can't run into it. It'll all die out before she's back again, of course." "I hope so," was my reply; "but the source of these rumors is very persistent--and very discreet. They start from Mrs. Arthur; they must. But it's impossible to trace them back to her. Jimmy, she means to make New Haven impossible for me, and I've an idea she's likely to succeed. Already, three or four old acquaintances have--well, avoided me, and the general atmosphere's cooling pretty rapidly toward zero. So far as I'm concerned, it doesn't much matter; but it does matter for Susan. She may return to find her whole future clouded by a settled impression that in some way--indirectly--or even, directly--she was responsible for my wife's sudden death." "It's a damned outrage!" exclaimed Jimmy. "I don't know Mrs. Arthur, but I'd like to wring her neck!" "So would I, Jimmy; and she knows it. That's why she's finding life these days so supremely worth living." Jimmy pondered this. "Gee, I hate to think that badly of any woman," he finally achieved; "but I guess it doesn't do to be a fool and think they're all angels--like Susan. Mother's not." "No, Jimmy, it doesn't do," I responded. "Still, the price for that kind of wisdom is always much higher than it's worth." "Women," began Jimmy---- But his aphorism somehow escaped him; he decided to light a cigarette instead.... And on this wave of cynicism I floated him off with me to _The Puppet Booth_. IV