“Couldn’t you find anything more interesting?” He dropped into a seat near the table and ran his fingers through his hair. “We’ve been having a great fight to-day. Aspinwall’s new tariff schedule. If I’d known I was going to make a speech I’d have asked you to come. Have you seen the notices of our ball last night in the papers?” Helen nodded. “The _Star_ gave us a great send-off. They treated me as if I were a millionaire.” Douglas Briggs sighed. “I wish I were.” “That reminds me, Douglas,” said Helen. “I want to ask you something.” She was astonished at her own boldness. She felt as if she were speaking at the bidding of someone else. She thought of her resolution, but she felt powerless to keep it. Briggs looked up. “Well?” Helen did not answer at once, and he added: “What is it?” “Since last night,” she began, slowly, seeming to hear her voice in another part of the room, “I’ve been wondering if we weren’t living very extravagantly.” He looked at her in surprise. Then the expression in his face softened. “I shouldn’t worry about that, dear, if I were you. There’s no need of it.” “Douglas!” she said. “Eh?” He observed her sharply. “How much do you make in a year?” Briggs smiled and frowned at the same moment. “What?” he said, with astonishment, “how much do I make?” “Yes. What’s your income? What was it last year? Please tell me. I have a reason for asking.” Briggs looked vaguely around the room. “’Pon my word, I don’t believe I know myself.” “Can’t you estimate?” “I suppose I could,” Briggs replied, with a note of irritation in his voice. “But what do you want to know for?” “I think I ought to know.” “Don’t you have everything you want?” he asked, inconsequently. “Yes.” “Have I stinted you in anything?” “No, Douglas, never. You’ve been perfect. No woman ever had a more generous husband.” Briggs thrust his hands into his pockets and burlesqued an attitude of extreme self-satisfaction. “There! Then there’s nothing more to be said, since I’m such a paragon.” “But I want to know, really,” Helen insisted. For the first time she had known him she suspected that he was not quite sincere. And yet she could not believe that he was capable of acting with her--with anyone. Briggs turned quickly. “I told you I didn’t know myself.” “But I’m serious about this,” Helen went on. “Now, your salary is five thousand, isn’t it?” “M’m--h’m!” “And the property Aunt Lena left me--how much does that bring in?” Briggs lifted his shoulders. “Last year it brought in only two thousand. We might have got more out of it----” “Please don’t reproach me about that. You know how much I want to keep it safe for the children!” “Well, if that isn’t just like a woman!” Briggs retorted, laughing. “When she might have more for the children!” “Or nothing at all,” Helen remarked, quietly.