y---- You understand. I trust you
more than any one in the world."

"Then why----?"

"Ah, why?" she echoed. "That's what I wish you could tell me. Why should
I be able to offer more to--to some one else whom I trust less? So much
less?"

"But is that love, Terry? Isn't it infatuation? Could you keep on
offering? Loving means marrying and marrying means being together
without respite."

"I know," she nodded wisely. "I know all that. I know it so well that I
don't want to marry him or anybody--at least, not yet."

"Then why----?"

She took his other hand in hers, clinging to it as if she were drowning.
"That's the second time you've asked me why. I'll tell you. Because if I
don't say 'Yes,' I shall lose him. Even though I may not want him
forever, I can't bear to lose him for now. You must know the
feeling--you who are in love. And that's why," her voice choked with the
tears that she kept back from her eyes, "that's why I promised him last
night."

"Last night!" Tabs spoke slowly, trying to bring the finality home to
himself.

"Last night," she repeated; "the night that should have been yours. The
night I had promised to you for years." Then, in a flame of
self-derision, "Why don't you let go my hands and hate me, now that you
know how treacherous I am?"

"You're not treacherous." He smoothed the slim fingers as though he were
coaxing a child. "You mustn't be unjust to yourself. When we're in love
we're all apt to be unjust; I was yesterday, to this man. Injustice,
whether to oneself or to some one else, works most of our mischief; one
never knows where it ends. We can't control our hearts, Terry; you've
tried. You've tried to make your heart love me and it's refused. Don't
be miserable because of it; you couldn't help that. And this man--he's a
fine fellow. I always knew he was a fine fellow, until seeing him with
you yesterday made me jealous and blinded my eyes. He's a finer fellow
than ever now. You couldn't love him if he weren't."

She wasn't giving him the enthusiastic attention that his praise
deserved. Somewhere at the back of her mind there lay a doubt with which
she wrestled while he strove to comfort her. He believed that he had
guessed her doubt. "As for not trusting him the way you trust me," he
explained, "that's natural. We know the whole of each other's lives; our
families are the same kind of families and we share the same kind of
friends. Whereas----"

"Whereas," she broke in, "I know n