chair, she looked up at him.

"Mathilde has been telling me something about a plan of yours to take her
to China with you. We could not consent to that, you know."

"I'm sorry," said Pete. The tone was pleasant. That was the trouble;
it was too pleasant a tone for a man relinquishing a cherished hope.
It sounded almost as if he regretted the inevitable disappointment of
the family.

Adelaide tried a new attack.

"Your mother--have you consulted her?"

"Yes, I've told her our plans."

"And she approves?"

Wayne might choose to betray his mother in the full irresponsibility of
her attitude to so sympathetic a listener as Mr. Lanley, but he had no
intention of giving Mrs. Farron such a weapon. At the same time he did
not intend to be untruthful. His answer was this:

"My mother," he said, "is not like most women of her age. She
believes in love."

"In all love, quite indiscriminately?"

He hesitated an instant.

"I put it wrong," he answered. "I meant that she believes in the
importance of real love."

"And has she a spell by which she tells real love?"

"She believes mine to be real."

"Oh, yours! Very likely. Perhaps it's maternal vanity on my part, Mr.
Wayne, but I must own I can imagine a man's contriving to love my
daughter, so gentle, so intelligent, and so extraordinarily lovely to
look at. I was not thinking of your feelings, but of hers."

"You can see no reason why she should love me?"

Adelaide moved her shoulders about.

"Well, I want it explained, that's all, from your own point of view. I
see my daughter as an unusual person, ignorant of life, to whom it seems
to me all things are possible. And I see you, a very nice young man. But
what else? I ask to be told why you fulfil all possibilities. Don't
misunderstand me. I am not mercenary. Mathilde will have plenty of money
of her own some day. I don't want a millionaire. I want a _person_."

"Of course, if you ask me why Mathilde should love me--"

"Don't be untruthful, Mr. Wayne. I thought better of you. If you should
come back from China next year to find her engaged to some one else, you
could tell a great many reasons why he was not good enough for her. Now
tell me some of the reasons why you are. And please don't include
because you love her so much, for almost any one would do that."

Pete fought down his panic, reminding himself that no man living could
hear such words without terror. His egotism, never colossal, stood
feebly bet