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“Well,” he said, “I have no lover, no wife; but I have a companion, a friend—one in a million.” And again the black funeral trailed its slow length before his eyes, and he shuddered.

I have not sought to deceive the reader. He knows as well as I do that at this moment the door opened, and a young and beautiful woman stood on the threshold. Her eyes were shining; round her neck were gleaming pearls. She was playing for a high stake, and being a true woman she had disdained no honest artifice that might help her. She wore shining white silk, severely plain, and her brown hair was dressed high on her head. A woman one shade less intuitive would have let the dusky masses fall over a lace-covered tea-gown.

“Michael,” she said, “I am your wife. Are you going to forgive me?”

He raised himself slowly from his chair, and his eyes dwelt on detail after detail of the beauty before him.

“My wife!” he said. “You are a stranger!”

“I did disguise myself well. My sister told me about your advertisement; she lives with Sylvia Maddox. We each have