dislike him there'd be no going back." And then it recurred to her
that this would be as great a calamity of loss for her as for him
--and she went at her packing in a better humor. "I'll explain to
him that I yield this once, but--" There she stopped herself with
a laugh. Of what use to explain to him?--him who never listened
to explanations, who did not care a fig why people did as he
wished, but was content that they did. As for warning him about
"next time"--how ridiculous! She could hear his penetrating,
rousing voice saying: "We'll deal with 'next time' when it comes."





CHAPTER XXV

MRS. JOSHUA CRAIG


"We change at Albany," said he when they were on the train, after
a last hour of mad scramble, due in part to her tardiness, in the
main to the atmosphere of hysteric hustle and bustle he created as
a precaution.

"At Albany!" she exclaimed. "Why, when do we get there?"

"At midnight."

"At midnight!" It was the last drop in the cup of gall, she
thought. "Why, we'd get to Lenox, or to some place where we'd have