have been, he wouldn't have been mixed up in this affair."

"I'm glad he was, mother," Lola surprised her by saying. "It has proved to be of the greatest importance in his personal development."

"You are glad Richard was arrested?"

Mrs. Stewart could scarcely believe her ears.

"Yes," Lola answered calmly; "his arrest and imprisonment have brought him to his best self, . . the whole experience has proved a blessing in disguise.”

Mrs. Stewart regarded her daughter with the utmost astonishment.

"Where will this madness end!" she exclaimed.

"Dick and I have passed through very unusual experiences," Lola continued. "They have been bitter, but every cloud has its silver lining. In this case, the silver lining is a perfect comprehension of each other's viewpoint. When he wanted to be married, for instance, I wasn't ready for it; when I was ready, he realized that it ought not to be. Now we have both agreed to drop all thought of marriage, and to devote ourselves wholly to our work."

Mrs. Stewart looked at her daughter in reproachful silence.

"Your engagement is broken?" she asked at length. "It amounts to that," Lola admitted; "but I am in complete sympathy with Dick, mother dear, and am happier than I ever was in my life.”

"Have you ceased to care for each other?"

The expression on Lola's face made her mother regret that she had asked the question.

me, I never loved him so much! Whether we ever marry or not, Richard Norton will always be the one man in my life."

"Of course, if he feels different "the older woman began, still mystified by Lola's words.

"He doesn't, dear . . . I know he doesn't . . . but at present his mind is wholly concentrated on a big work. To accomplish this he must be free, and I gladly give him his freedom as my contribution to the cause. Can't you understand, mother dear? There are some things in life which are greater than others. Dick and I think we are in the presence of one which demands personal sacrifice. It is I who am making it, and if it gives me happiness to have this opportunity to prove my sincerity, surely you don't blame me for living up to what I believe is right."

"I'm not blaming you, child," Mrs. Stewart hastened to assure her, for she saw tears gathering in her eyes. "I can't follow you, that is all. The more I try the less I seem to understand. I have been brought up to look upon marriage and children as God's work for women, and greater than any which mortal man can find for us to do. Perhaps I am old-fashioned, but that is how I feel. For a good many centuries love has been supposed to be the greatest influence in our lives, and when I see something else put ahead of it, I wonder whether the present generation is really wiser than those which went before it after all."

"Is it putting something else ahead of it, dear? Isn't it rather giving love a broader interpretation to

devote ourselves to making other people happier and better than to seek it for our own selfish enjoyment?"

"It may be," Mrs. Stewart answered doubtfully and without enthusiasm. "I have always admired the Christian martyrs, but it's another matter when it strikes one's own family . . . Of course, you and Dick must work it out for yourselves."

V

This conversation with her mother unnerved Lola. It was one thing to argue with herself and another to crystallize an idea into words which should satisfy one who approached it from an unsympathetic angle. While with Richard, everything seemed to fit perfectly into their new scheme of life; when away from him an unexplained something crowded itself between her zeal and her instinct, preventing their complete co-ordination. Sometimes the conflict seemed too great for her to bear, but then she gained new strength by repeating to herself that she was fighting the good fight,.. that, even though her course was still unfinished, thus far she had kept the faith.

CHAPTER XXV

I

O ONE realized more clearly than William
Treadway that the wealth and position to which

N°

he had so suddenly fallen heir carried a responsibility from him to the community to live up to what their possession represented. Immediately after the probating of James Norton's will, he made it known to such charitable organizations as were not included as beneficiaries, but which had previously been the recipients of his chief's bounty, that similar support might be expected from him. The Civic Association, the Congregational Church, the Norcross hospital, and many other similar institutions, were gratified to find that James Norton's money had fallen into such sympathetic hands. The passing of the Great Man of Norcross was lamented, but the town soon accepted the fact that his mantle would fall upon the shoulders of his secretary, and it was the general verdict that his successor was wearing it with becoming grace.

Treadway also realized that a great man does more than simply give from his stores, and he straightway enlisted his personal effort in all the good works that concerned the town, of which he was now so prominent

a part. Lola's activity at just this time afforded him ample opportunity to be of service to her, and she found in him an efficient and helpful worker in several of her newly-formed organizations. He knew that she cherished against him the fact that he had not seen active service in the war. Several of her quips, which he had passed off lightly at the time, still left their scars. Here was his opportunity to heap coals of fire upon her head, and incidentally an excuse to be with her more frequently than she would have permitted under other circumstances.

"Some day you will realize how great an injustice you did me concerning my war-work," he said quietly once in Lola's "office," when she complimented him on some work he had just successfully completed. "You said that those who stayed at home cannot understand the feelings of the boys who got into it; I'll say that those who got into it can't understand the feelings of those who had to stay at home."

"I suppose that's true, Billy," Lola admitted, willing at least to give him the benefit of the doubt. "I don't mean to be unjust, but I'm afraid I can never understand how any man able to see service could permit anything to stop him."

"Sometimes it's harder to do the things we have to do than those which people think we ought to do," Treadway remarked seriously. "If I wore a stripe for every wound the world has given me for sticking to what was shown ine to be my duty against my will, I'd be a hero."

"But you wouldn't be hobbling along on one leg