I showed them to him after we had again come back to the light of the dining-room. "Thought you said her ears were flat against her head!" he teased with an adorable smile. I observed then for probably the first time that the camera had not so registered. "But they really are!" I affirmed.
Then we talked of other things and Mr. Harding gave me two (or maybe three—I cannot remember) $500 bills. "Now, put these away, Nan, where they'll be safe—where are you going to keep them?" he asked, as I opened my mesh-bag and lightly dropped them into it. "Oh, I'll take care of them all right, darling," I assured him, as I thanked him for what I told him was far more than I should need. I had always found that with his letters I experienced a greater sense of safety when I carried them with me constantly than when I left them at home in a dresser drawer, so I decided I would do the same with this large amount of money.
While Mr. Harding and I stood there, he getting out the bills for me, I glanced down at the array of papers on the desk or table in front of me. The paper on top caused me to look at them more closely; they were concerning Mrs. Harding's first marriage to Mr. DeWolfe, and stated that she had been obliged to obtain a divorce because of Mr. DeWolfe's intemperance in drink. I read further to the end of the page and a wave of sympathy for Mrs. Harding swept over me. I knew of her son by Mr. DeWolfe and of how they said he had followed in the footsteps of his unfortunate father, and it really grieved me to think how one's personal sorrows must be unearthed to be made the topic for discussion by a gossipy public. And the enormity of Mr. Harding's secret and mine again possessed me as I thought triumphantly, "They haven't got our story!" And when I spoke of this to Mr. Harding he agreed with me that Providence had protected us.
Mr. Harding left ahead of me, returning to his home only about a block away. Of course Tim Slade did not know that I was far better acquainted with every corner of Marion than he ever could be, and when he asked me where I was going I told
