ow her all right," said Quin.

The little mystery about Miss Bartlett's first name had been a fruitful
topic of conversation between a couple whose topics were necessarily
limited. She had teased Quin to tell her how he knew, and also how he
knew she wanted to go on the stage; and Quin had teased back; and at last
it had resolved itself into a pretty contest of wits.

This served to keep her beside him often as long as four minutes. Then he
would gain an additional two minutes by showing her what progress he had
made with his chain, and consulting her preference for an American flag
or a Red Cross worked in the medallion.

When every other means of detaining her had been exhausted, he sometimes
resorted to strategy. Constitutionally he was opposed to duplicity; he
was built on certain square lines that disqualified him for many a
comfortable round hole in life. But under the stress of present
circumstances he persuaded himself that the end justified the means.
Ignoring the fact that he was as devoid of relations as a tree is of
leaves in December, he developed a sudden sense of obligation to an
imaginary cousin whom he added, without legal authority, to the
population of Peru, Indiana. By means of Miss Bartlett's white hand he
frequently informed her that she was not to worry about him, because he
was "doing splendid," and that a hospital "wasn't so worse when you get
used to it." And while he dictated words of assurance to his "Cousin Sue"
his eyes feasted upon a dainty profile with long brown lashes that swept
a peach-blow cheek. Once he became so demoralized by this too pleasing
prospect that he said "tell him" instead of "tell her," and the lashes
lifted in instant inquiry.

"I mean--er--her husband," Quin gasped.

"But you had me direct the other letters to Miss Sue Brown."

"Yes, I know," said Quin, with an embarrassment that might have been
attributed to skeletons in family closets; "but, you see--she--er--she
took back her own name."

The one cloud that darkened Quin's horizon these days was Captain Phipps.
His visits to the ward always coincided with Miss Bartlett's, and he
seemed to take a spiteful pleasure in keeping the men at attention while
he engaged her in intimate conversation. He was an extremely fastidious,
well groomed young man, with an insolent hauteur and a certain lordly air
of possession that proclaimed him a conqueror of the sex. Quin regarded
him with growing disfavor.

When the three