"Why not? I've done nothing to be ashamed of, even granting that I have acted foolishly. I'm not going to skulk off!"
"Nothing to be ashamed of! Lynn! Why do you persist in maintaining this attitude? You compel me to speak plainly. You have done what is unforgivable—you have done"—
"Wait a minute, Del! You mean?"—
"I mean—oh, Lynn, Lynn, don't you see that if you had only kept this dreadful thing secret; if you only hadn't allowed people to know, positively, that you had done the one thing that is never pardoned in a woman—if you had only"—
"Ah!"
Lynn rose, slowly.
"I didn't know, Del—I knew what men were like—I didn't know—what you have taught me! Good-bye."
"Lynn. Wait! Where are you going?"
"Home—to tell my uncle and aunt that I have been seen leaving the Chatham at night. If they won't have me in their house—I'll go, elsewhere. I have proved the worth of the two people, man and woman, who professed to love me best on earth; now I want to rid myself of all the rest. Good-bye."
"Good heavens! You don't mean to say that you are trying to deny?"—