"Well, but who is she, and what do you suppose she wrote it for?" Alix wondered.
"Oh, I don't know. She got mad at him, perhaps. Or perhaps she is a champion of this Woods woman. They had some quarrel--how do _I_ know? But you can see that she is mad, and this is the way she gets even!"
"Cherry, at least do Martin the justice to ask him about it!" Alix pleaded, really frightened now.
Her sister seemed not to hear her. She stopped her angry pacing, and sat down at the table, and the misery in her beautiful eyes made Alix's heart sink.
"And that," Cherry said in a whisper, "is my husband!"
She paused, staring down at the table, one hand supporting her forehead, the other wandering idly among the breakfast things. Her look was sombre and far away. Alix, standing, watched her distressedly, through a long minute of silence.
"Well!" Cherry said lifelessly, looking up at her sister with dulled eyes. "What now? It's still 'for better or worse,' I suppose?"
Alix sat down, and for a moment covered her face with a tight-pressed hand. When she took it away, there was new serenity and resolution in her tired face.
"No," she said, with a great sigh, "I think perhaps you're right! He hasn't--he should have no claim on you now!"
"Alix," Cherry demanded, "would you forgive him?"