. "You want some one to love you. I
understand. It's what we all want, I suppose. I'll try to be a real, true
sister from now on, George. It--it will not be very hard for me to love
you, I'm sure," she concluded, with a whimsical little smile that went
straight to his sore, disfigured heart. A lump came into his throat and
his eyes began to smart so suddenly that a mist came over them before he
could blink his lids. He was very young, was George Tresslyn, despite the
things that go to make men old.

"Gee!" he said, astonished by his own emotions. Then he gripped her
slender, ringless hand in his huge palm,--and was further surprised to
discover that she did not wince. "We're not acting like Tresslyns at all,
Anne. We're acting just like regular people."

"Do you know that you are a very lucky person, George?" she said abruptly.
He blinked. "You don't know it, but you are. I wish I had the same chance
that you have."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"I wish I had the same chance to be happy that you have."

"Happy? Good Lord, I'll never be happy without Lutie, and you know it," he
groaned.

"That is just the chance you still have, Buddy. It isn't inconceivable
that you may get Lutie back, while I--well, you know how it is with me. I'm
done for, to put it plainly."

"Lutie wouldn't wipe her feet on me," he said, struggling between hope and
conviction. "I'd let her do it like a flash if she wanted to, but--Oh,
what's the use! You and I have queered ourselves forever, you with Brady
and I with Lutie. It's an infernal shame you didn't take Brady when you--"

"Yes, we've queered ourselves," said she, struck by the phrase that fell
from his lips. It was not Anne's habit to use slang, but somehow George's
way of putting the situation into words was so aggravatingly complete that
she almost resented his prior use of an expression that she had never used
before in her life. It _did_ sum up the business, neatly and compactly.
Strange that she had never thought of that admirable word before! "And of
the two of us, George, I am the worst offender. I went about my mistake
deliberately. I suppose it is only right that I should pay the heavier
price."

"If I thought there was a chance to get Lutie back, I'd--" But there he
stopped as he always stopped. He had never been able to end that sentence,
and he had got just that far with it a million times or more.

"Have you tried to get her back?" she demanded suddenly