going to make fun of me, Will, I wouldn't
have talked to you at all."

Quickly he made a step forward and intercepted her.

"I don't want to make fun of you, but you must realize that after two
years it isn't exactly pleasant to be dumped with so little ceremony.
Maybe you have never given me any credit for possessing the slightest
feeling, but even I can receive shocks from other sources than a break
in the market."

She stopped and looked at him kindly. Her voice was softened as she
said:

"It isn't easy for me to do this, Will. You've been awfully kind,
awfully considerate, but when I went to you it was just with the
understanding that we were to be pals. You reserved the right then to
quit me whenever you felt like it, and you gave me the same privilege.
Now, if some girl came along who really captivated you in the right
way, and you wanted to marry, it would hurt me a little--maybe a
lot--but I should never forget that agreement we made, a sort of two
weeks' notice clause, like people have in contracts."

The broker turned away, visibly moved. Striding up to the edge of the
terrace, he stood looking down into the canon. Laura remained where he
had left her, looking after him. There followed a long silence, which
at length he broke.

"I'm not hedging, Laura. If that's the way you want it to be, I'll
stand by just exactly what I said." Turning and looking at her, he went
on: "But I'm fond of you, a damned sight fonder than I thought I was,
now that I find you slipping away; but if this young fellow is on the
square----"

She approached him and slipped her hand in his. He went on:

"If he's on the square, and has youth and ability, and you've been on
the square with him, why, all right. Your life hasn't had much in it to
help you get a diploma from any celestial college, and if you can start
out now and be a good girl, have a good husband, and maybe some day
good children, why--I'm not going to stand in the way. Only, I don't
want you to make any of those mistakes that you made before."

"I know," she smiled sadly, "but somehow I feel that this time the real
thing has come and with it the real man. I can't tell you, Will, how
much different it is, but everything I felt before seemed so sort of
earthy--and somehow the love that I have for this man is so different.
For the first time in my life it's made me want to be truthful and
sincere and humble. The only other thing I ever had that I cared the
least bi