His sister's face reddened: "Louis," she said, "I am married; I have children, friends, a certain position to maintain. You are unmarried, careless of conventions, uninterested in the kind of life that I and my friends have led, and will always lead. The life, the society, the formalities, the conventional observances are all part of our lives, and make for our happiness and self-respect; but they mean absolutely nothing to you. And you propose to invade our respectable and inoffensive seclusion with a conspicuous wife who has been a notorious professional model; and you demand of your family that they receive her as one of them! Louis, I ask you, is this fair to us?" He said very gravely: "You have met Valerie West. Do you really believe that either the dignity or the morals of the family circle would suffer by her introduction to it?" "I know nothing about her morals!" said his sister, excitedly. "Then why condemn them?" "I did not; I merely reminded you that she is a celebrated professional model." "It is not necessary to remind me. My mother knows it and will stand by her. Will you do less for your own brother?" "Louis! You are cruel, selfish, utterly heartless--" "I am trying to think of everybody in the family who is concerned; but, when a man's in love he can't help thinking a little of the woman he loves--especially if nobody else does." He turned his head and looked out of the window. Stars were shining faintly in a luminous sky. His face seemed to have grown old and gray and haggard: "I don't know what to do," he said, as though speaking to himself;--"I don't know where to turn. She would marry me if you'd let her; she will never marry me if my family is unkind to her--" "What _will_ she do, then?" asked Lily, coolly. For a moment he let her words pass, then, turned around. The expression of his sister's brightly curious eyes perplexed him. "What do you mean?" he asked, disturbed. "What I say, Louis. I asked you what Miss West means to do if she does not marry you? Discontinue her indiscreet intimacy with you?" "Why should she?" Lily said, sharply: "I would not have to put that question to a modest girl." "I have to put it to _you_!" he retorted, beginning to lose his self-command. "Why should Valerie West discontinue her friendship with me because my family's stupid attitude toward her makes it impossible for a generous and proud girl to marry me?" Lily, pale, infuriated, leaned forward in her chair. "Because," she retorted violently, "if that intimacy continues much longer a stupid world and your stupid family will believe that the girl is your mistress! But in that event, thank God, the infamy will rest where it belongs--not on us!" A cold rage paralysed his speech; she saw its ghastly reflection on his white and haggard face--saw him quiver under the shock; rose involuntarily, terrified at the lengths to which passion had scourged her: