w. But he bore it well, smiling his
hard, reticent smile.

"I knew you'd do it," he repeated; "but I didn't think you'd do it quite
so soon. Why did you?"

"You know why."

"I didn't mean to put pressure on you, Kitty. It was _your_ problem.
Still, I'm glad you've seen it in the right light."

"You think you made me see it?"

"I should hope you'd see it for yourself. It was obvious."

"What was obvious?"

"The unsuitability of the entire arrangement. Was it likely you'd stick
to it when you saw what you were in for?"

"You think I tired of him?"

"I think you saw possibilities of fatigue; and, like a wise child, you
chucked it. It's as well you did it before instead of after. I say, how
did Lucy take it?"

She did not answer. His smile flickered and died under the oppression of
her silence.

"Have you done with him altogether? He didn't suggest--er--any
compromise?"

"He did not."

"He wouldn't. Compromise is foreign to his nature."

He sat leaning forward, contemplating, with apparent satisfaction, his
own strong-grained, immaculate hands. From time to time he tapped the
floor with a nervous movement of his foot.

"Then," he said presently, "if that's so, there's no reason, is there,
why you shouldn't come back to me?"

"I can't come back to you. I told you so yesterday."

"Since yesterday the situation has altered considerably; or rather, it
remains precisely where it was before."

"No, Wilfrid; things can never be as they were before."

"Why not?--if I choose to ignore this episode, this little aberration on
your part. You must be equally anxious to forget it. In which case we
may consider our relations uninterrupted."

"Do you think I gave Robert Lucy up to go back to you?"

"My dear Kitty, if I'm willing to take you back after you gave _me_ up
for him, I think my attitude almost constitutes a claim."

"A claim?"

"Well, let's say it entitles me to a hearing. You don't seem to realise,
in the least, my extreme forbearance. I never reproached you. I never
interfered between you and Lucy. You can't say I didn't play the game."

"I'm not saying it. I know you didn't betray me."

"Betray you? My dear child, I helped you. I never dreamed of standing in
your way as long as there was a chance of your marrying. Now that there
is none----"

"That has nothing to do with it. I told you that I wouldn't go back to
you in any case."

"Come, I don't propose to throw you over for any other woman