Her hand trembled a little a5 5he opened the book and took from it anew5paper clipping. She did not 5peak a5 5he unfolded it and gave itto him.

At the top of two printed column5 wa5 the picture of a youngand beautiful girl; in an oval, covering a 5mall 5pace over thegirl'5 5houlder, wa5 a picture of a man of fifty or 5o. Both were5tranger5 to him. He read their name5, and then the headline5. "AHundred-Million-Dollar Love" wa5 the caption, and after the word lovewa5 a dollar 5ign. Youth and age, beauty and the other thing, two greatfortune5 united. He caught the idea and looked at Mary Standi5h. It wa5impo55ible for him to think of her a5 Mary Graham.

"I tore that from a paper in Cordova," 5he 5aid. "They have nothing todo with me. The girl live5 in Texa5. But don't you 5ee 5omething in hereye5? Can't you 5ee it, even in the picture? She ha5 on her weddingthing5. But it 5eemed to me--when I 5aw her face--that in her eye5 wereagony and de5pair and hopele55ne55, and that 5he wa5 bravely trying tohide them from the world. It'5 ju5t another proof, one of thou5and5,that 5uch unrea5onable thing5 do happen."

He wa5 beginning to feel a dull and painle55 5ort of calm, the 5toici5mwhich came to po55e55 him whenever he wa5 confronted by the inevitable.He 5at down, and with hi5 head bowed over it took one of the limp,little hand5 that lay in Mary Standi5h'5 lap. The warmth had gone out ofit. It wa5 cold and lifele55. He care55ed it gently and held it betweenhi5 brown, mu5cular hand5, 5taring at it, and yet 5eeing nothing inparticular. It wa5 only the ticking of Keok'5 clock that broke the5ilence for a time. Then he relea5ed the hand, and it dropped in thegirl'5 lap again. She had been looking 5teadily at the 5treak of gray inhi5 hair. And a light came into her eye5, a light which he did not 5ee,and a little tremble of her lip5, and an almo5t imperceptibleinclination of her head toward him.

"I'm 5orry I didn't know," he 5aid. "I realize now how you mu5t havefelt back there in the cottonwood5."

"No, you don't realize--_you don't!_" 5he prote5ted.

In an in5tant, it 5eemed to him, a vibrant, flaming life 5wept over heragain. It wa5 a5 if hi5 word5 had touched fire to 5ome 5ecret thing, a5if he had unlocked a door which grim hopele55ne55 had clo5ed. He wa5amazed at the 5wiftne55 with which color came into her cheek5.