.

His face, too, went red and white with rage and astonishment. It was a
damnable trap for a man to be caught in, and he was furious with the
two women who had pushed him into it--he could have beaten them both
with rods. Innocent as this girl was, he could not hope to deceive her
as to the real truth. She had heard too much. But he thought he could
manage her; women were as wax in Hunter's hands. To begin with, they
_wanted_ to believe him.

"I hate to have to say it--but the lady is jealous," he said frankly
enough, with a disarming smile; and shrugged his shoulders, quite as
if that simple statement explained and excused everything.

"Oh, she need not be afraid--of me!" said the girl, with white-hot
scorn. "I'd rather die by inches of leprosy than belong to you now.
You are clever, though. And I _was_ easy to deal with, wasn't I? And I
cared so much! I dare say it was really your hair and beard, but I
honestly thought you a sort of Archangel! Well, you're not. You're not
anything I thought you--not good nor kind nor honorable nor
truthful--not anything but just a rather paltry sort of liar. You're
not even loyal to _her_. I think I could respect you more if you were.
But I _am_ James Eustis's girl--and that's my salvation, Mr. Hunter.
Please take your letters. You will send me back mine to-morrow."

He stroked his short gold beard. The color had come back into his face
and a new light flashed into his cold blue eyes. He laughed. "Why, you
game little angel!" he said delightedly. "Gad, I never thought you had
it in you--never. I begin to adore you, Mary Virginia, upon my soul I
do! Now listen to reason, my too-good child, and don't be so
puritanical. You've got to take folks as they are and not as you'd
like them to be, you know. Men are not angels, no, nor women, either.
You must learn to be charitable--a virtue very good people seldom
practice and never properly appreciate." And he added, leaning lower:
"Mary Virginia! Give me another chance ... you won't be sorry,
Ladybird."

But she stood unmoved, stonily silent, holding out the letters. And
when he still ignored this silent insistence, she thrust them into his
hands and left him.

Mary Virginia was to go back to school the next night. All day she
waited for her letters. Instead came a note and a huge bunch of
violets. The note said he couldn't allow those precious letters which
meant so much to him to pass even into her hands who had written them.
When h