ed his protest with a gay little laugh. "I make no exceptions.
Terry's exactly like the rest of us--younger and more innocent looking,
no doubt, but just as imperfect. As regards this engagement of hers, she
breathed no word of it until you had gone. Then she began to flirt with
the idea that she might be able to keep it. At last she couldn't resist
the temptation any longer. Out she came with it, that she must be going.
I'd lay a wager I could name the person with whom----"

"You'd lose your wager."

"I think not." She met the threatened tempest in his eyes with calmness.

"Would you give a name to this person?"

"Where's the good?" She shrugged her dainty shoulders. "We both know it?
Steely Jack. Isn't that what you call him?"

Instantly she leant forward. Her whole instinct was to touch him. She
hadn't intended to hurt him like that. He looked so defiant, and gaunt
and deserted--such a huge, scarred boy of a man. He reminded her of one
of those early war-posters, in which a solitary figure was depicted,
knee-deep in barbed wire, head bandaged, hurling the last of his bombs.

"Please don't be angry," she pleaded. "I was clumsy; but I was trying to
help. When you helped me yesterday, you too were clumsy. You can't put
on a new frock, worse luck, the way I've done, to restore your
self-respect. But I do wish you'd buy a new something--a new race-horse
or a new car--I don't care what as long as it would make you swank. A
little swanking would do you all the good in the world; it would keep
Terry from knowing how much you care. Terry's not half good enough for
you; one day you'll acknowledge it. Still, if you really do think you
want her, you can bring her to heel any moment by putting on an
indifferent air. Look how jealously she flared up at me at lunch. It
makes a woman furious to see her rejections picked up as treasures by
another woman. The only reason why Terry brought you here to-day was to
see for herself just how deep an impression we'd made on each other."

At last she mustered the courage to touch him. Reaching out, she took
his hand and drew him to her. He stood against her knees, looking down.

Her voice was tender. "Some one had to say these things to you, just as
you had to say things to me that weren't altogether pleasant. So why
shouldn't I to you? After all, we're both in the same box, and the box
is labeled NOT WANTED. It pains me to see a man like you, wasting
himself on a girl who hasn't the s