's good-looking, but she's not my sort."

"Pray, what IS your sort?"

"You."

She laughed softly. "You're a goose, Joe!"

She settled herself more comfortably on the doorstep and drew along
breath.

"How tired I am! Oh--I haven't told you. We've taken a roomer!"

"A what?"

"A roomer." She was half apologetic. The Street did not approve of
roomers. "It will help with the rent. It's my doing, really. Mother is
scandalized."

"A woman?"

"A man."

"What sort of man?"

"How do I know? He is coming tonight. I'll tell you in a week."

Joe was sitting bolt upright now, a little white.

"Is he young?"

"He's a good bit older than you, but that's not saying he's old."

Joe was twenty-one, and sensitive of his youth.

"He'll be crazy about you in two days."

She broke into delighted laughter.

"I'll not fall in love with him--you can be certain of that. He is tall
and very solemn. His hair is quite gray over his ears."

Joe cheered.

"What's his name?"

"K. Le Moyne."

"K.?"

"That's what he said."

Interest in the roomer died away. The boy fell into the ecstasy of
content that always came with Sidney's presence. His inarticulate young
soul was swelling with thoughts that he did not know how to put into
words. It was easy enough to plan conversations with Sidney when he was
away from her. But, at her feet, with her soft skirts touching him as
she moved, her eager face turned to him, he was miserably speechless.

Unexpectedly, Sidney yawned. He was outraged.

"If you're sleepy--"

"Don't be silly. I love having you. I sat up late last night, reading.
I wonder what you think of this: one of the characters in the book I was
reading says that every man who--who cares for a woman leaves his mark
on her! I suppose she tries to become what he thinks she is, for the
time anyhow, and is never just her old self again."

She said "cares for" instead of "loves." It is one of the traditions of
youth to avoid the direct issue in life's greatest game. Perhaps
"love" is left to the fervent vocabulary of the lover. Certainly, as if
treading on dangerous ground, Sidney avoided it.

"Every man! How many men are supposed to care for a woman, anyhow?"

"Well, there's the boy who--likes her when they're both young."

A bit of innocent mischief this, but Joe straightened.

"Then they both outgrow that foolishness. After that there are usually
two rivals, and she marries one of them--that's three. And--"

"