't tell me if you
do. I don't want to hear it! Val was so provoking: he didn't seem
to mind it at all. He's nothing but a big brute sometimes: he
wouldn't even admit that he minded, when I asked him. I was idiot
enough to ask; I couldn't help it; he was so tantalizing and
exasperating--laughing at me. I never knew anybody like him; he's
so sure of himself and he can be so cold. Sometimes I wonder if he
really cares about anything, deep down in his heart--anything
except himself. He seems so selfish: there are times when he
almost makes me hate him; but just when I get to thinking I do, I
find I don't--he's so deliciously strong, and there's such a _big_
luxury in being understood: I always feel he _knows_ me clear to
the bone, somehow! But, oh," she sighed regretfully, "doesn't a
uniform become a man? They ought to all wear 'em. It would look
silly on such a little goat as that Wade Trumble, though: nothing
could make him look like a whole man. Did you see him glaring at
me? Beast! I was going to be so nice and kittenish and do all my
prettiest tricks for him, to help Val with his oil company. Val
thinks Wade would come in yet, if I'D only get him in the mood to
have another talk with Val about it; but the spiteful little rat
wouldn't come near me. I believe that was one of the reasons Val
laughed at me and pretended not to mind my getting proposed to. He
_must_ have minded; he couldn't have helped minding it, really.
That's his way; he's so _mean_--he won't show things. He knows
_me_. I can't keep anything from him; he reads _me_ like a
signboard; and then about himself he keeps me guessing, and I
can't tell when I've guessed right. Ray Vilas behaved
disgustingly, of course; he was horrid and awful. I might have
expected it. I suppose Richard was wailing _his_ tiresome sorrows
on your poor shoulder----"

"No," said Laura. "He was very cheerful. He seemed glad you were
having a good time."

"He didn't look particularly cheerful at me. I never saw so slow a
man: I wonder when he's going to find out about that pendant. Val
would have seen it the instant I put it on. And, oh, Laura! isn't
George Wattling funny? He's just _soft_! He's good-looking
though," she continued pensively, adding, "I promised to motor out
to the Country Club with him to-morrow for tea."

"Oh, Cora," protested Laura, "no! Please don't!"

"I've promised; so I'll have to, now." Cora laughed. "It'll do
Mary Kane good. Oh, I'm not going to bother