d I want him to stay awake. He will
wonder whether you love me, and he will be afraid that you do--and I
want him to be afraid."

"But it was a lie, Randy. I am not going to marry you."

"Do you think that I meant that----? That I am expecting anything for
myself?"

"No," unsteadily, her slender body trembling as if from cold, "but what
did you mean?"

"I told you. Dalton's got to come back to you and beg--on his knees--and
he will come when he thinks you are mine----"

"I don't want him to come. And when you talk like that it makes me
feel--smirched----"

Dead silence. Then, "It was a gentleman's lie----"

"Gentlemen do not lie. Go to him this minute, Randy, and tell him that
it isn't true."

"Give me three days, Becky. If in that time he doesn't try to see you or
call you up, I'll go---- But give me three days."

She wavered. "What good will it do?"

He caught up her cold little hands in his. "You will have a chance to
get back at him. And when you stick in the knife, you can turn it--until
it hurts."

III

It was while the family at Huntersfield were at dinner that the
telephone rang. Calvin answered, and came in to say that Miss Becky was
wanted. She went listlessly. But the first words over the wire stiffened
her.

It was George's voice, quick imploring. Saying that he had something to
tell her. That he must see her----

"Let me come, Becky."

"Of course."

"You mean that I--may----?"

"Why not?"

He seemed to hesitate. "But I thought----"

Her laugh was light and clear. "I must get back to my dinner. I have
only had my soup. And I am simply--_starving_----"

It was not what he had expected. Not in the least. As he hung up the
receiver he was conscious too of a baffled feeling that Becky had, in a
sense, held the reins of the situation.

In spite of her famished condition, Becky did not at once go to the
dining-room. She called up King's Crest, and asked for Randy.

She wanted to know, she said, whether he had anything on for the
evening. No? Then could he come over and bring the boarders? Oh, as many
of them as would come. And they would dance. She was bored to _death_.
Her laugh was still clear and light, and Randy wondered.

Then she went back to the dinner table and ate the slice of lamb which
the Judge had carved for her. She ate mint sauce and mashed potatoes,
she ate green corn pudding, and a salad, and watermelon. Her cheeks were
red, and Aunt Claudia felt that Becky was l