collar.

"My goodness--you can't go on living here!" he exclaimed.

Lily smiled at his tone. "I am not sure that I can; but I have gone over
my expenses very carefully, and I rather think I shall be able to manage
it."

"Be able to manage it? That's not what I mean--it's no place for you!"

"It's what I mean; for I have been out of work for the last week."

"Out of work--out of work! What a way for you to talk! The idea of your
having to work--it's preposterous." He brought out his sentences in short
violent jerks, as though they were forced up from a deep inner crater of
indignation. "It's a farce--a crazy farce," he repeated, his eyes fixed
on the long vista of the room reflected in the blotched glass between the
windows.

Lily continued to meet his expostulations with a smile. "I don't know why
I should regard myself as an exception----" she began.

"Because you ARE; that's why; and your being in a place like this is a
damnable outrage. I can't talk of it calmly."

She had in truth never seen him so shaken out of his usual glibness; and
there was something almost moving to her in his inarticulate struggle
with his emotions.

He rose with a start which left the rocking-chair quivering on its beam
ends, and placed himself squarely before her.

"Look here, Miss Lily, I'm going to Europe next week: going over to Paris
and London for a couple of months--and I can't leave you like this. I
can't do it. I know it's none of my business--you've let me understand
that often enough; but things are worse with you now than they have been
before, and you must see that you've got to accept help from somebody.
You spoke to me the other day about some debt to Trenor. I know what you
mean--and I respect you for feeling as you do about it."

A blush of surprise rose to Lily's pale face, but before she could
interrupt him he had continued eagerly: "Well, I'll lend you the money to
pay Trenor; and I won't--I--see here, don't take me up till I've
finished. What I mean is, it'll be a plain business arrangement, such as
one man would make with another. Now, what have you got to say against
that?"

Lily's blush deepened to a glow in which humiliation and gratitude were
mingled; and both sentiments revealed themselves in the unexpected
gentleness of her reply.

"Only this: that it is exactly what Gus Trenor proposed; and that I can
never again be sure of understanding the plainest business arrangement."
Then, realizing that