The Third Degree

e, but the face of a woman who had experienced early the hard knocks of the world, yet in whom adversity had not succeeded in wholly subduing a naturally buoyant, amiable disposition. There wa

eamed in her eyes as

ar, anyth

sponse and a look of disappointm

was here again for the rent. He says they'll serve us with

ation, she made no pretense at being what she was not and therein perhaps

again, Howard. You pro

on into the flat and flung himself down in a chair in the dinin

e demanded. "I'm

s wife from the kitchen. "There's some

n the table spotless. The furnishings were as meagre as they were ingenious. With their slender purse they had been able to purchase only the bare necessities-a bed, a chair or two, a dining-room table, a few kitchen utensils. When they wanted to sit in the parlor they had to carry a chair from the dining room; when meal times came the chairs had to travel back again. A soap box turned upside down and neatly covered wit

which she laid on the table. As she helped Howard to a pla

answer. As he gulped down a hu

al-same old stor

ar anything else. It meant that their hard hand-to-mouth struggle must go on. She said nothi

ar. Something will turn up soon. Where did you go? Whom did you s

s own shortcomings. "You remember Coxe! He was at Yale when I was. A big, fair f

ntly, as she helped him to more stew. "What

ow down like this. He said that I could make a good deal of money if only I had a little capit

would it

ousand

gave a sigh a

ur father could give you such an amount

snapped Howard savagely. "You don't want me t

ish enough to want to stand in the way of your future. Your father and stepmother hate me, I know that. I am the cause of

ughed as

0 I guess I'll go without it. I wouldn't

d her hand acr

y," sh

nestly. "Not one second have I ever regr

was badly in need of this reassurance. If she thought Howard nourished secret regrets it would br

on in New Haven when, listening to Howard's importunities and obeying an impulse she was powerless to resist, she had flung a

entire life. She realized that she was largely to blame. She had done wrong to marry him and at times she reproached herself bitterly. There were days when their union assumed in her eyes the enormity of a crime. She should have seen what a social gulf lay between them. All these taunts and insults from his family which she now endured she had fool

tocratic notions who recoiled with horror at having anything to do with a girl guilty of the enormity of earning her own living. Individual merit, inherent nobility of character, amiability of disposition, and a personal reputation untouched by scandal-all this went for nothing-because unaccompanied by wealth or social position. Annie had neither wealth or position. She had not even educ

" she said, extending her h

ead and threw down

said despondently. "I

at him wi

, you're

tic tears. She forgot the appalling number of cigarettes he smoked a day, nor

his mind still preoccupied with Coxe's proposition. Lighting anoth

eral shiftlessness were, she argued, the result of bad associates. He was self-indulgent. He made good resolutions and broke them. But he was not really vicious. He had a good heart. With some one to watch him and keep him in the straight path, he would still give a good account of himself to the world. She was confid

n after in convict stripes. There was no provision for Annie's maintenance, so at the age of nine she found herself toiling in a factory, a helpless victim of the brutalizing system of child slavery which in spite of prohibiting laws still disgraces the United States. Ever since that time she had earned her own living. The road had often been hard, there were times when she thought she would have to give up

sest of cronies and she was sorry to see what bad influence the elder sophomore had over the young freshman, to whom she was at once attracted. Every time they came she watched them and she noticed how under his mentor Howard became more hardened. He drank more and more and became a reckless gambler. Underwood seemed to exercise a baneful spell over him. She saw that he wo

was little doubt of that. His affection for her had partly, if not wholly, redeemed him and was keeping him straight. He had been good to her ever since their marriage and done everything to make her comfortable. Once he took a position as guard on the elevated road, but caught cold and was forced to give it up. She wanted to go to work again, but he angril

an idea," suddenly

asked, her reveries th

for it. He's a slippery customer. But under the circumstances I think it's worth another determined effort. He seems to be better fixed now than he

ie. "I see his name in the newspapers all the time.

was among those present at my stepmother's musicale the other night." Bitterly he added: "That's how the w

an," interrupted Annie. "How does he come

estion he's as blind as a bat. What right had a man of his age to go and marry a woman twenty years his junior? Of course she only married him for his money. Everybody knows that except he. People laugh at him behind his back.

before their marriag

ntroductions to good people. She managed to make herself popular in the smart set and she needed money to

rtain sense of satisfaction on hearing that this woman who trea

o know Robert Underwood?" she a

imply wonderful what influence he has with her. He exercises over her the same fascination that he did over me at college. He has sort of hypnotized her. I don't think it's a case of love or anything like that, but he simply holds her under his thumb and gets her to do anything he wants. She invites him to h

was steadfast loyalty to the man whose life she shared and whose name she bore, there was so

father objec

proud a man, too sure of his own good judgment, to believe for a moment that the woma

t for a minute.

that Underwood would l

him what I want it for. He will see at once that it is a good thing. I'll offer him a good r

hom his stepmother was so much interested. On the other hand starvation stared them in the face. If Howard cou

dear," she said. "Whe

him would be in the ev

go to-night,"

shook h

. To-night there's another big reception at my father's house. He'll probably be ther

other cigarette and, leaving the table, took up the evening newspaper. Sitting down comf

w night to the Astruria and stri