"Don't cry, dear, don't cry. He will soon be himself again. His terrible experience on the steamer upset him dreadfully. His nervous system underwent such a shock that it has entirely changed his character. Wilbur says it is quite a common phenomenon. Only the other day he read in some medical book an article on that very subject. The writer says any great shock of that kind can cause a temporary disarrangement of the moral sense and perceptions. For example, a man who, under ordinary circumstances is a perfect model of a husband, with every good quality and virtue, may suddenly lose all sense of conduct and become am unprincipled _roue_. In other words, we have two natures within us. When our system is working normally we succeed in keeping the evil that's in us under control; but following any great shock, the system is disarranged, the evil gains the ascendancy, and we appear quite another person. This explains the dual personality about which Wilbur and I had an argument the other day. Don't you remember?" Helen nodded. Sadly she said: "I begin to think you are right. Certainly he has changed. If he had been like this when I first met him I should never have married him. It is not the Kenneth I learned to love." Bitterly, she added: "As he is now, I feel I dislike and detest him. Unless he soon changes for the better, I shall leave him. In self respect I can't go on living like this?" Kissing her sister again, Ray rose and went back to her seat. Confidently, she said: "Don't worry, dear. I'm sure everything will be all right soon. You see if I'm not right. By my wedding day--only three weeks away now--you'll think as much of Ken as ever----" "I hope so, dear, but three weeks is a long time to wait----" The young girl laughed. "Why that's nothing at all. Just imagine Ken is ill or gone away from you on a visit for that length of time----" As she spoke the door opened, and Francois entered with a silver salver, which he presented to his mistress. "A letter for Madame." Helen looked at the envelope and threw it down with a gesture of impatience. Crossly, she exclaimed: "Francois, I do wish you'd be more careful. Can't you read. Don't you see the letter is addressed to Mr. Traynor?" The valet nodded. "_Oui_, madame. But as Monsieur is out I thought that possibly madame----" Incensed more at the fellow's impudent air than by what he actually said, Helen lost her temper. Angrily, she exclaimed: "Don't think. People of your class are not hired to think; they are paid to do as they are told. You've been very careless in your work recently. The next time it happens I shall have to tell you to find another place." The valet smiled. An insolent look passed over his sallow, angular face. Dropping completely his deferential manner and fixing the two women with a bold, familiar stare, he said impudently: "You needn't wait till next time. I'll quit right now, _parbleu_. It's a rotten job, anyhow."