ll with nothing inside. You have no soul!"

"I don't want one, thank you. They're such a bother. Why are you so
cross with me all of a sudden?" cried Claudia, making a delightful
little _moue_ of childlike injury and distress. "I've been so nice to
you all this time, and it's mean to ask questions, and then get cross
when I tell you the truth."

"You are false!" he replied coldly. "Your honesty is a blind to hide
the falseness beneath. There is nothing true, nor straight, nor honest
about you." And then bending nearer, so that his huge brown face almost
touched her own, he hissed a question into her ear: "Claudia--will you
marry me?"

Claudia gave a trill of birdlike laughter.

"Yes, please!" she cried gaily. "But what a funny proposal! You don't
`lead up' a bit well. They are generally so flattering and nice, and
you were horrible. Why do you want to marry me, if you disapprove of me
so much?"

"Why do you want to marry _me_?" he asked in return. There was no
lover-like ardour in his voice; the sunken eyes gleamed with a mocking
light; every tooth in his head seemed to show as he bent over her. "Is
it because you love me, Claudia?"

"N-ot exactly," said Claudia, with a gulp. His nearness gave her a
momentary feeling of suffocation, but she braced herself to bear it
without shrinking. "N-ot exactly; but I love the things you can give
me! It's a fair exchange, isn't it? You want a hostess; I want a home.
You don't pretend to love me, either!"

Then suddenly his eyes blazed upon her.

"Not you, perhaps, but your beauty! I worship your beauty," he cried.
"Your beauty has driven me mad! Make no mistake, my girl, you don't
deceive me--you are not worth loving, not even worth buying, though you
are so ready to sell your dainty pink and white self, but I am going to
buy you all the same. I've worked hard for my money, and I can afford
to indulge myself in worthless trifles if it suits my fancy. It is, as
you say, a fair exchange. You want my money, I want your beauty. I
have worked among grim sights; now, for a change, I shall look upon--
You!" He stretched out his great hand, and laid it beside hers. "Hide
and satin! Who would believe that we belonged to the same species!
You're a dainty morsel, my dear. We shall make a pretty pair."

Claudia looked at him, and felt a shrinking of heart.

"You'll be good to me?" she asked him. "You'll promise not to quarrel,
or be stingy? You won't mak