he stage--actors and
actresses?"

"I know some--yes. I know quite a lot."

"Not Miss Farrow, I suppose?" she questioned eagerly.

"Yes--yes, I do," said Challoner.

She gave a little cry of delight. "Oh, I wish I could meet her--she's
so beautiful."

Challoner could not answer. He would have given worlds had it been
possible to stop the cab and rush away; but he knew he had got to go
through with it now, and presently he found himself following Mrs.
Wyatt and Christine through the hall of the hotel at which they were
staying.

"It's quite like old times, isn't it?" he said with an effort. "Quite
like the dear old days at Upton House. Don't I wish we could have them
again."

"The house is still there," said Mrs. Wyatt laughing. "Perhaps you
will come down again some day."

Challoner did not think it likely. There would be something very
painful in going back to the scene of those days, he thought. He was
so much changed from the light-hearted youngster who had chased
Christine round the garden and pulled her hair because she would not
kiss him.

He looked at her with reminiscent eyes. There was a little flush in
her pale cheeks. She looked more like the child-sweetheart he had so
nearly forgotten.

Mrs. Wyatt had moved away. He and Christine were alone. "I used to
kiss you in those days, didn't I?" he asked, looking at her. He felt
miserable and reckless.

She looked up at him with serious eyes. "Yes," she said almost
inaudibly.

Something in her face stirred an old emotion in Jimmy Challoner's
heart. This girl had been his first love, and a man never really
forgets his first love; he leaned nearer to her.

"Christine, do you--do you wish we could have those days over again?"
he asked.

A little quiver crossed her face. For a moment the beautiful brown
eyes lit up radiantly. For a moment she was something better than just
merely pretty.

He waited eagerly for her answer. His pride, if nothing deeper, had
been seriously wounded that night. The tremulous happiness in this
girl's face was like a gentle touch on a hurt.

"Do you--do you wish it?" he asked again.

"Yes," said Christine softly. "Yes, if you do."

CHAPTER II

JILTED!

It was late when Jimmy got home to his rooms; he was horribly tired,
and his head ached vilely, but he never slept a wink all night.

The fact that Cynthia's husband was alive did not hurt him nearly so
much as the fact that Cynthia had avo