"But she did one thing that was wicked--at least that a woman never can be forgiven for, if it's found out." "Did she--did she take something that didn't belong to her ?" "No--nothing like that.

No, she was, they say, as nice and sweet as she could be--except---- She wasn't married to your father." Susan sat in a brown study.

"I can't understand," she said at last.

"Why--she _must_ have been married, or--or--there wouldn't have been me." Ruth smiled uneasily.

"Not at all.