The spell of his personality worked strongly upon her. "Recollection is the only paradise from which we cannot be turned out," she said. "You read that to me once, but I didn't dream that my own happiness would some day consist of recollection." "Why should it, Gloria? Hope is ready to welcome you. Your home stands open; my arms are outstretched." "No!" she exclaimed, with a shake of her dark head. "There is some one besides myself to consider. Natalie is happy here; no one seems to know or to care what I have done." "But surely you are not satisfied with this." He ran his eye critically over the garish newness of the little hotel parlor. It was flimsy, cheap, fresh with paint, very different from the surroundings he had given her at Hope. "I wonder that he presumed to offer you this after what you have had. A hotel-keeper! A landlady!" "I was glad to get even this, for I have no pride now," she returned, coldly. "At least the house is honest, and the men who come here are the same. Mr. O'Neil is especially kind to Natalie, and she thinks a great deal of him." "I presume he wants to marry her." "I pray that he will. I don't intend her to make the mistake I did." Gordon received this announcement with grim satisfaction. It was what he had suspected, and it fitted perfectly into his plans. "I sha'n't allow this to continue, Gloria," he said. "Our difference has gone far enough, and I sha'n't permit O'Neil to put me in his debt. We have come to a final understanding, he and I. While my views on the holiness of the marriage relation have not changed in the least, still I am ready to follow your wishes." "You--mean it?" she queried, breathlessly. "I do. Come home, Gloria." "Wait! I must tell Natalie." She rose unsteadily and left the room, while he reflected with mingled scorn and amusement upon the weakness of human nature and the gullibility of women. A moment later mother and daughter appeared, arm in arm, both very pale. "Is this true?" Natalie demanded. "Quite true. You and Gloria seem to think I owe something; I never shirk a debt." Mrs. Gerard's fingers tightened painfully upon her daughter's arm as he continued: "There is only one condition upon which I insist: you must both return to Hope at once and have done with this--this man." Natalie hesitated, but the look in her mother's eyes decided her. With some difficulty she forced herself to acquiesce, and felt the grip upon her arm suddenly relax. "When will the wedding take place?" she asked. "At the earliest possible moment," Gordon declared, with well-feigned seriousness. "Once we return to God's country--" "No!" cried Natalie. "We can't go back to Hope until she is married; it would be scandalous." "Why more scandalous to accept my protection than that of a stranger? Do you care what these people think?" he demanded, with an air of fine scorn. "Yes! I care very much." "Is there any--reason for waiting?" Mrs. Gerard inquired.