an odd movement and bent himself, as if
something sharp had run into him unawares, and he turned his face away,
to hide the look of pain which he could not control. Margaret had
hardly spoken the cruel words when she realised what she had done.

'Oh, I'm so sorry!' she cried, in dreadful distress, and the voice came
from her heart and was quite her own again.

In her genuine pain for him, she took his hand in both her own, and
drew it to her and looked into his eyes.

'It's all right,' he answered. 'You did not mean it. Don't distress
yourself.'

There were tears in her eyes now, but they were not going to overflow.
She dropped his hands.

'How splendidly good and generous you are!' Margaret cried. 'There's
nobody like you, after all!'

Lushington forgot his pain in the pleasure he felt at this outburst.

'But why?' he asked, not very clear as to her reasons for praising him.

'It was the same thing the other day,' she said, 'when we upset you on
the Versailles road. You were in a bad way; I don't think I remember
ever seeing a man in a worse plight! I couldn't help laughing a
little.'

'No,' said Lushington, 'I suppose you couldn't.'

'You had your revenge afterwards, though you did not know it,' Margaret
answered.

'What sort of revenge?'

'Monsieur Logotheti was detestable. It would have given me the greatest
satisfaction to have stuck hat-pins into him, ever so many of them, as
thick as the quills on a porcupine!'

Lushington laughed, in a colourless way.

'As you say, I was revenged,' he answered.

'Oh, that wasn't it!' she laughed, too. 'Not at all! Besides, you knew
that! You were perfectly well aware that you had the heroic part, all
through.'

'Indeed, I wasn't aware of it at all! I felt most awfully small, I
assure you.'

'That's because you're not a woman,' observed Margaret thoughtfully.
'No,' she went on, after a short pause, during which Lushington found
nothing to say, 'the revenge you had was much more complete. I don't
think I'll tell you what it was. You might think----'

She broke off abruptly, and drew the big garden hat even further over
her eyes. Lushington watched her mouth, as he could see so little of
the rest of her face, but the lips were shut and motionless, with
rather a set look, as if she meant to keep a secret.

'If you don't tell me, I suppose I'm free to think what I please,'
Lushington answered. 'I might even think that you were seized with
remorse for being s