d
the ugliest child in the county, though it was himself that said it.
But," she gave the slightest, most ephemeral of sighs, "I've lived
through that. I'm conceited now about--other things."

"Lots of them, I'm sure. There must be lots," agreed Stanor, with a
sincerity which condoned the banality of the speech. "About your good
nature for one thing, I should say, and your generosity in forgiving a
blundering man, and your jolly disposition which makes you smile when
another girl would have been wild. I can understand all those and a lot
more, but, just as a matter of curiosity, I should like to know what are
you conceited about _most_?"

Pixie O'Shaughnessy smiled. There was evidently no doubt in her own
mind as to her reply. The slim figure straightened, the little head
tilted in air. Quick and crisp came the reply--

"I can make people do what I like!"

"Can you, though!" exclaimed Stanor blankly. The statement seemed to
threaten a mysteriously personal application, and he relapsed into a
ruminating silence, the while his companion employed herself cheerfully
with her dinner and the looks and conversation of her companions.

It was one of Pixie's special gifts to be able to do at least three
things at the same time with quite a fair amount of success. She could,
for instance, write a business-like letter while carrying on an animated
conversation with a friend, and keeping an eye on a small child
tottering around the room. Brain, eyes, and limb were alike so alert
that what to slower natures would have been impossible, to her involved
no effort at all.

Therefore, when about two minutes later Stanor opened his lips again to
utter a short, urgent "_How_?" she had not the slightest difficulty in
switching back to the subject, though she had been at the moment in the
midst of an absorbing calculation as to the number of yards of lace on a
dress of a lady farther down the table, and in drawing mental designs of
the way it was put on, to enclose to Bridgie in her next letter home.

"How?"

"I _understand_ them," said Pixie deeply. "You can open any door if you
have the key, but most people go on banging when it's shut. I wait till
I find my key, and then I keep it ready until the moment arrives when I
wish to get in."

Stanor's broad shoulders gave an involuntary movement which might almost
have been taken for a shiver. Once again he felt a mysterious
conviction of a personal application. All his