e. They
say that you have gone stark mad--that you are rushing to ruin."

"A little looser. That's better. Thanks."

"And everyone's wondering when Josephine will hear and go on the
rampage. She's so proud and so stuck on herself that they're betting
she'll give you the bounce."

"Well--" getting into his coat--"you'd delight in that. For you don't
like her."

"Oh--so--so," replied Ursula. "She's all right, as women go. You know we
women don't ever think any too well of each other. We're 'on.' Now, I'm
frank to admit I'm not worth the powder to blow me up. I can't do
anything worth doing. I don't know anything worth knowing--except how to
dress and make a fool of an occasional man. I'm not a good house-keeper,
nor a good wife--and I'd as lief go to jail for two years as have a
baby. But I admit I'm n. g. Most women are as poor excuses as I am, yet
they think they're _grand_!"

Norman, standing before his sister and smiling mysteriously, said: "My
dear Urse, let me give you a great truth in a sentence. The value of
anything is not its value to itself or in itself, but its value to some
one else. A woman--even as incompetent a person as you----"

"Or Josephine."

"--or Josephine--may seem to some man to be pricelessly valuable. And if
she happens to seem so to him, why, she _is_ so."

"Meaning--Jersey City?"

His eyes glittered curiously. "Meaning Jersey City," he said.

A long silence. Then Ursula: "But suppose Josephine hears?"

He stood beside the doorway, waiting for her to pass out. His face
expressed nothing. "Let's go down. I'm hungry. We were talking about it
this afternoon."

"You and Jo!"

"Josephine and I."

"And it's all right?"

"Why not?"

"You fooled her?"

"I don't stoop to that sort of thing."

"No, indeed," she laughed. "You rise to heights of deception that would
make anyone else giddy. Oh, I'd give anything to have heard."

"There's nothing to deceive about," said he.

She shook her head. "You can't put it over me, Fred. You've never before
made a fool of yourself about a woman. I'd like to see her. I suppose
I'd be amazed. I've observed that the women who do the most
extraordinary things with men are the most ordinary sort of women."

"Not to the men," said he bitterly. "Not while they're doing it."

"Does _she_ seem extraordinary to _you_ still?"

He thrust his hands deep in his pockets. "What you heard is true. I'm
letting everything slide--work--career--everything. I