"How did Carboner get hold of your husband's stock?" I persisted curiously.
"That is my secret!" she smiled back with a look of her old self. "Why should you want to know? That is so like a man! Always wanting to know why. Believe in the fairies for once!"
"It was a mighty clever fairy this time. She had lots of power. Do you see that, after all, in spite of all the talk about genius and destiny and being self-made and all that, I did not win the game by myself? I would have been broke now, a discredited gambler, if it hadn't been for your helping hand. It was you! And I guess, Jane, we all have to have some help."
"You don't begrudge me the little help I gave you—the small share I had in your fortune?"
"No, I don't mind. I am glad of it."
That was sincere enough. I had come to see that no man can stand alone, and I was not ashamed to have taken my help from the hand of a woman.
"But suppose I had gambled with your money and lost it? I might have easily enough."
"Do you think I should have cared?"
"No, Jane, I guess not. But I should have!"
"It's been the joy of these terrible years, knowing that you were here in the world accomplishing what you were born to do! And that I had a little—oh, such a little!—share in helping you do it. Poor I, who have never done anything worth while!"