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 and shutting with strong convulsive action. With an effort, however, he restrained himself, though it was easy to see his fury bubbling beneath the surface.

“Unhappily,” he began with cold, forced indifference, “I was mad enough to marry this woman, and I am still quixotic enough to believe that marriage has its obligations. But believe me, it is not love of her which makes me so insistent, but rather thought of my own good name.”

“Your good name!” she cried.

“For which you appear to have so little consideration.”

“The remedy is in your hands,” said Vermont once again.

“T am well aware of that fact, and shall act upon it in my own time, and in my own way. But the situation is an extremely delicate one, the circumstances quite unique. In branding this woman as infamous how shall I avoid my own discredit? You see, in dealing with her we are not dealing with the average normal woman, who, whatever her instincts may be, has decency enough to hide them; but rather with one of those abnormal creatures who glory.