he had to sit down.

"Oh, Pope--a chipmunk! He might at least have allowed you the dignity
of a bear or a mountain lion!"

"There are no mountain lions in these parts," I said with some
dignity.

"Or a duck-billed platypus. Oh, I say, Pope, it's too rich. I can't
help picturing it. Did they coo? Oh, Lord!"

"It was nauseating!" I retorted in accents so genuine that he laughed
again.

"It's no laughing matter, I tell you, Jack," I said. "The boy is
completely bewitched. He thinks he adores her. He doesn't. I know."

And bit by bit, while his expression grew interested, I told him all
that I had heard.

"It's animal, purely animal," I concluded. "And he doesn't know it."

"By George! He's awakening, you think?"

"I'm sure of it. She's leading him on, for the mere sport of the
thing. It has been going on for four months now, almost every day.
He's pretty desperate. She won't marry him. She doesn't love him. She
loves nobody--but herself."

"What will be the end of the matter?" he asked.

I shrugged.

"She'll throw him over when she debases him."

"Debase--!"

"Yes," I said wildly. "I tell you he thinks her an angel, Can't you
see? A man doesn't learn that sort of thing--_her_ sort of thing--from
the woman he loves. It's like hearing impurity from the lips of one's
God! And you ask me if she's debasing him! Why, Jack, he's all ideals
still. The world has taught him something, but he still holds fast to
his childish faith in everyone."

"Bless him! He does." And then, "What can I do, Pope?"

"Nothing. I'm waiting. But I don't like his temper. It's dangerous. I
think he's beginning to suspect her sincerity and when he finds out
that she's still playing false with Channing Lloyd--then look out!"

"You're going to tell him?"

"No, he'll discover it. She's quite brazen."

He was silent for a while.

"Pope, you surprise me," he muttered at last. "The modern girls, I
give them up. There's a name for this sort, perverted coquettes,
'_teasers.'_ The man of the world abominates them, they're beneath
contempt; but Jerry--No," he remarked with a shake of the head, "he
wouldn't understand that."

"And when he does?"

"H--m!"

His manner added no encouragement.

"It would serve her jolly well right," he muttered cryptically in a
moment.

"What?" I asked.

I think he understood Jerry now as well as I did.

"Violence," he blurted out.

"Ah! Then I'm not a fool. You agree with me."

"I'm glad I'm n