the white bear as Beatrice had
so often said, wondering if it would be too much the act of a cad to
go to Mary Faithful and merely tell her. He could think at Mary's
house--he must have a chance to think, to realize that Beatrice
refused to come with him and to tell himself that nothing should force
him to remain in the Villa Rosa and be the husband of the Gorgeous
Girl, set right by her father's checks, the laughingstock of the
business world that had called his hand.

The humiliation, the failure, the loss--were good to have; stimulating.

Wonderfully alive and keen, he did not know how to express the new
sensation that took possession of his jaded brain. He was like a
gourmand dyspeptic who has long hesitated before trying the diet of a
workingman and when someone has whisked him off to a sanitarium and
fed him bran and milk until he has forgotten nerves, headaches, and
logginess he vows eternal thankfulness to bran and milk, and is humbly
setting out to adopt the workingman's diet instead of the old-time
menus.

Steve could begin to work simply, to find his permanent place in the
commercial world. He had enough money--or would have--to start a home
in simple yet pleasant fashion; he had knowledge and ability that
would place him favourably and furnish him the chance to work
normally toward the top. That was all very well, he told himself
toward early morning--but must it be done alone? He had had the
Gorgeous Girl as the incentive to make his fortune, and now he had
Mary Faithful as the incentive to lose it--and if the Gorgeous Girl
stayed on at the villa and became that pitied, dangerous object, a
divorcee; and if Mary did care-----Strange things, both wonderful and
fearsome, happen in the United States of America.

CHAPTER XXII

Beatrice, never having gone to her father for anything save money, did
not know how to broach the subject in heartfelt and deep-water
fashion. When she went into his room she found him with scarlet spots
burning in his grayish cheeks, his dark eyes harsher and more
formidable than ever. He tried twisting himself on the bed, resulting
in awkward, halfway muscular contortions and gruff moans punctuating
the failure. He held out his arms to her and she went flying into
them, not the dignified woman of the world putting a cave man in his
proper place.

"He is impossible!" was all she said, giving way to hysterical sobs.
"Don't even try talking to him again----"

More gruff m