As Morley Smith drew up a chair and asked Stella to be seated, he looked at her closely and catalogued her forthwith. Morley Smith had known Stephen Dallas for years. How could he ever have married this woman? How could any man, who was attracted by the gentle, genuine charms of Mrs. Cornelius Morrison (and had been attracted by them, too, since according to his story, before he ever met this Stella Martin), have contemplated matrimony with such an absolute antithesis? What a Quixote Stephen Dallas must have been, in spite of his insistence that he had married the pretty normal-school student of his own free will and in the pursuit of happiness.

“I am glad, Mrs. Dallas,” Mr. Morley Smith began from his high place of authority in front of the flat-topped desk, glancing across to Stella in her low place at the side of the desk (three feet and an armchair make all the different in the world), “that you found it convenient to meet me here today. It is so much more satisfactory to talk a matter of this kind over quietly together.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” said Stella. She wished her chair had a deep seat and arms so that she could lean back and assume a position of command.

“It is my hope,” Mr. Smith went on suavely, “that I may be performing a service for both you and Mr. Dallas in arranging this affair without publicity, to your mutual satisfaction. I want you to feel, Mrs. Dallas,” he smiled, “that I am here, not only as Mr. Dallas’s friend and attorney, but as your friend and attorney, too.”

“I don’t need any attorney,” said Stella.

“I agree with you, you do not. This affair should be, and can be settled without contest—between ourselves. That is your husband’s wish, too. He and I have gone into the details of this matter and there lies open to us a line of procedure, which, if pursued, will cause almost no unpleasantness, as far as you are concerned.”

“And what’s that?”

“Why, you are to bring suit against Mr. Dallas for desertion. He will not contest the grounds of your suit, and the divorce will be granted without disagreeable controversy.”

“I don’t want a divorce,” said Stella.

“Really?” Mr. Morley Smith raised his eye-brows in surprise. “Surely, you want your separation of seven years’ standing legalized, do you not, and enjoy the advantages thereof?”

“I don’t want a divorce,” Stella repeated.

“The word has an unpleasant sound for some women, I know,” Mr. Smith smiled. “It shouldn’t. Let me explain. Perhaps you haven’t thought in detail just what the benefits would be of a settlement of the relations existing between you and Mr. Dallas—just what hardships you are inflicting upon yourself, unnecessarily, in allowing them to continue in their present state.”