gh to prove to you that love is the biggest thing in the
world?" he asked gently, but there was a tremble in his voice that
thrilled her down to her very heels. "Oh, my dear, has it? Work and
independence are all well enough but they can't take the place of
love." His eyes watched her hungrily, but as the color left her cheeks
as quickly as it had come and she shook her head, he went on more
slowly and there was no longer a wistful tremble in his voice to thrill
her to her heels. "You remember the night when you offered me
friendship instead of love and I scornfully refused the half loaf?"
She nodded almost mechanically, her eyes on her fingers as they pleated
a fold of her frock. "Well, I've changed my mind. Mary Rose has shown
me that friends may have a big place in one's life and if you can't
give me anything more I'm going to be satisfied with your friendship.
May I have that?" He held out his hand.

"Oh!" It was a startled little gasp and it was a startled little
glance that she gave him. "Is--is that what you came for?" If his
ears had been sharper he would have caught a tiny note of
disappointment in the question as if she had expected him to ask for
more.

"It isn't what I came for," he acknowledged honestly. "But I wanted to
tell you so you wouldn't keep on avoiding me as if I had the plague.
The other afternoon you wouldn't have come over if you had thought I
would be back?"

A red banner in each cheek convicted her.

"We're neighbors and friends of Mary Rose," he went on slowly, "so
we'll doubtless meet more or less and I'd like to feel that you trust
me, that we are friends. But, honestly, I came tonight to talk of Mary
Rose."

She would be glad to talk of Mary Rose, glad to talk of anyone but
herself, and she left the morris chair that had proved such a safe
shelter and took a gaily cushioned wicker one on the other side of the
room.

"Isn't it a shame?" she asked a bit breathlessly. "I can't imagine how
anyone who has seen that ducky child with her birdcage could have had
the heart to steal her canary."

"Surely you don't think anyone who knew her took Jenny Lind?" He was
astonished.

"Everyone says that Mr. Wells has acted very oddly. And Mary Rose told
me herself that he swore at Jenny Lind. He's as hard as nails, you can
see it in his face. I've heard that he has complained to Brown and
Lawson that the leases are not lived up to and that there is a child in
the house. When