choose. Valerie West knows perfectly well that you
would rule her out. Why should she give you the opportunity?"

"Is she afraid of me?"

He smiled: "I don't think so." And his smile angered his sister.

"Very well," she said, biting her lip.

For a few moments she sat there deliberating, her pointed patent-leather
toe tapping the polished floor. Then she stood up, with decision:

"There is no use in our quarrelling, Louis--until the time comes when
some outsider forces us into an unhappy misunderstanding. Kiss me
good-bye, dear."

She lifted her face; he kissed her; and her hand closed impulsively on
his arm:

"Louis! Louis! I love you. I am so proud of you--I--you know I love you,
don't you?"

"Yes--I think so."

"You _know_ I am devoted to your happiness!--your _real_
happiness--which those blinded eyes in that obstinate head of yours
refuse to see. Believe me--believe me, dear, that your _real_ happiness
is not in this pretty, strange girl's keeping. No, no, no! You are
wrong, Louis--terribly and hopelessly wrong! Because happiness for you
lies in the keeping of another woman--a woman of your own world,
dear--of your own kind--a gently-bred, lovable, generous girl whom you,
deep in your heart and soul, love, unknowingly--have always loved!"

He shook his head, slowly, looking down into his sister's eyes.

She said, almost frightened:

"You--you won't do it--suddenly--without letting us know--will you,
Louis?"

"What?"

"Marry this girl!"

"No," he said, "it is not likely."

"But you--you mean to marry her?"

"I want to.... But it is not likely to happen--for a while."

"How long?"

"I don't know."

She drew a tremulous breath of relief, looking up into his face. Then
her eyes narrowed; she thought a moment, and her gaze became preoccupied
and remote, and her lips grew firm with the train of thought she was
pursuing.

He put his arms around her and kissed her again; and she felt the boyish
appeal in it and her lip quivered. But she could not respond, could not
consider for one moment, could not permit her sympathy for him to enlist
her against what she was devoutly convinced were his own most vital
interests--his honour, his happiness, the success of his future career.

She said with tears in her eyes: "Louis, I love you dearly. If God will
grant us all a little patience and a little wisdom there will be a way
made clear to all of us. Good-bye."

[Illustration: "'Your--profession--mus