ed. "You review it and I'll listen."

"Right!" Guy answered. "I met you first, then, never mind exactly how
long ago, on the steamer coming from America. You were quite alone,
unescorted, and unchaperoned. That in itself, as of course you know, was
a very remarkable thing. Nevertheless, I think you will admit that it
did not terrify me. We became--well, pretty good friends, didn't we?"

"I think we did," she admitted.

"Afterwards," he continued, "we met again at Luigi's restaurant. There
again I found you alone, in a restaurant where the women who know what
they are doing would not dream of entering without a proper escort.
Forgive me, but I want you to understand the position thoroughly. I saw,
of course, that you were being annoyed by the attentions of almost every
man who entered the place, and in my very best manner I came over and
made a suggestion."

Virginia sighed.

"You did it very nicely," she murmured.

"I rather flatter myself," he continued, "that I showed tact. I asked
simply to be allowed to sit at your table. Before we had finished dinner
I asked you, for the second time, to marry me."

"That," she declared, "was distinctly forward."

"You will remember that I refused to discuss things with you then. I
told you that I was coming for you the next morning, and I mentioned
what I thought of bringing with me. When I arrived at your
boarding-house you had gone. You left no word nor any message. I don't
consider that that was treating me nicely."

"It wasn't," she admitted, "but you have forgiven me for it."

He nodded.

"Of course I have. Well, a few nights later I saw you dining with a man
whom I know slightly, a clever fellow, distinctly a man of the world.
You were dining with him alone. I followed you home to Coniston
Mansions. Then I came away, and hesitated for some time whether to get
drunk or go for a swim in the Thames. Eventually I went home to bed."

"It was very sensible," she murmured.

"The next night," he continued, "you were dining with the same man
again, only this time he did not go back with you to Coniston Mansions.
I did, and before I left you, you had promised to be my wife. You warned
me to ask you no questions, and I didn't. I know as little of you now as
I did on the steamer. I know that this man Norris Vine has a flat within
a few yards of yours, and in the same building, but I ask no questions.
I think that you must certainly acquit me of anything in the shape of
un