of consequences."

"That would be a very good method--if everybody followed it," said the
girl. "Unfortunately, it invites enmity. Subtlety will take you farther in
the world." She was smitten with an impulse, unwise, unconventional. But
the conventions! The East seemed effete and far. Besides, she spoke
lightly:

"Let us be perfectly frank, then. I think that perhaps you take yourself
too seriously. Life is a tragedy to the tragic, a joke to the humorous, a
drab canvas to the unimaginative. It all depends upon what temperament one
sees it through. I dare say that I see you differently than you see
yourself. 'O wad some power the giftie gi'e us to see oursel's as ithers
see us'," she quoted, and laughed at the queer look in his eyes, for his
admiration for her had leaped like a living thing at her bubbling spirits,
and he was, figuratively, forced to place his heel upon it. "I confess it
seems to me that you take a too tragic view of things," she went on. "You
are like D'Artagnan, always eager to fly at somebody's throat. Possibly,
you don't give other people credit for unselfish motives; you are too
suspicious; and what you call plain talk may seem impertinence to
others--don't you think? In any event, people don't like to hear the truth
told about themselves--especially by a big, earnest, sober-faced man who
seems to speak with conviction, and, perhaps, authority. I think you look
for trouble, instead of trying to evade it. I think, too," she said,
looking straight at him, "that you face the world in a too physical
fashion; that you place too much dependence upon brawn and fire. That,
following your own method of speaking your mind, is what I think of you. I
tremble to imagine what you think of me for speaking so plainly."

He laughed, his voice vibrating, and bold passion gleamed in his eyes. He
looked fairly at her, holding her gaze, compelling it with the intensity
of his own, and she drew a deep, tremulous breath of understanding. There
followed a tense, breathless silence. And then--

"You've brought it on yourself," he said. "I love you. You are going to
marry me--someday. That's what I think of you!"

[Illustration: "YOU ARE GOING TO MARRY ME--SOME DAY. THAT'S
WHAT I THINK OF YOU!"]

She got to her feet, her cheeks flaming, confused, half-frightened, though
a fierce exultation surged within her. She had half expected this, half
dreaded it, and now that it had burst upon her in such volcanic fashion
she r