sure she could never care for the man was because
his handwriting prejudiced her in advance, it was so stiff, so devoid of
character. How different, she reflected now, from the writing of the man
who had taken his place!

She made such haste in dressing that her fingers seemed to be "all
thumbs"; and when at length she was ready she gazed gloomily into the
mirror. Last night she had not been so bad in evening dress; but now in
the cheap, ready-made brown velveteen coat and skirt and plain toque to
match, which had been her "best" for two winters, she feared lest _he_
should find her commonplace.

"The first thing I do, when he's had time to look me over, must be to
tell him he's free if he wants his freedom," she decided. And she kept
her word, when in the half-deserted foyer she had shaken hands with a
young man who wore a white rose in his buttonhole. "Please tell me
frankly if you don't like me as well by daylight," she gasped.

"I like you better," he said. "You're still my white rose. See, I've
adopted it as your symbol. I shall never wear any other flower on my
coat. This is yours. No, it's _you_! And I've kept the one I took last
night. I mean to keep it always. No danger of _my_ changing my mind! But
you? I've lain awake worrying for fear you might."

He held her hand, questioning her eyes with his.

She shook her head, smiling. But he would not let the hand go. At that
hour there was no one to stare. "The Countess didn't warn you off me?"

Annesley opened her eyes. "Of course not! Why, you told me you were old
friends!"

"So we are--as friends go in this world: 'pals,' anyhow. She's done me
several good turns, and I've paid her. She'd always do what she could to
help, for her own sake as well as mine. But her idea of a man may be
different from yours."

"She wasn't with me long," explained Annesley. "She said I needed sleep.
After she'd looked at my room to see if it were comfortable, she bade me
'good-night,' and we haven't met this morning. The few remarks she did
make about you were complimentary."

"What did she say? I'm curious."

"Well, if you must know, she said that you were a man few women could
resist; and--she didn't blame _me_."

"H'm! You call that complimentary? Let's suppose she meant it so. Now
we'll have breakfast, and forget her--unless you'd like her called to go
with us on a shopping expedition I've set my heart on."

"What kind of a shopping expedition?" Annesley wanted to kno