, should it come now, it
would not be alone through his gift or any power that dwelt in him.

"I believe you're sorry you promised him."

He turned to the girl. The disappointment in her tone reached him.

"He isn't hard to read, is he? He's planning to--to pull wires for me.
He won't trust my work to win out."

"Ah! I was hoping you wouldn't think of that."

"I can't help it. It sticks out--you've thought of it yourself. Do
you think it is a foolish pride?"

"Not foolish!" she answered quickly. "And not just pride, I think.
It's hard to realize that good work isn't always enough."

"Then you don't think me--temperamental?"

"I think you are--honest. But after all, there's no real dishonesty if
you do good work. And I think"--there was a sudden return to her old
shyness--"I think, if you win out, your great reward will be the good
work you have done."

"How do you know that?"

"If it weren't true you wouldn't have made those sketches."

And he knew a quick stirring of gratitude that he had found this girl
who understood so well, who saw the verities as he saw them and had
neither laugh nor sneer nor impatience for his finickiness.

"I wish," she went on, "it could come to you as you want it. But I am
glad it is coming--even though some one does pull wires to bring it to
you."

"But the wires may not work. I've got to remember that others may not
see my work as you and he do."

"That is possible," she said. "What of that?"

"I can try again, you mean? I suppose I can do that. I think I will
do that, as I can. And probably, if I turn out work that's worth
while, some day my chance will come. If I don't--why, there are other
things to do, and if you put your heart into them you can get happiness
out of them. Do you mind if I plagiarize a bit?"

"I don't mind at all," she smiled.

"And I've got to remember that, win or lose, I owe a lot to you and
him. He doesn't understand what a quitter I was when I came to his
office. I'd turned sour. I thought, because things hadn't gone the
way I wanted, I'd been hardly used."

"I know how that feels," she said.

"The truth was--" Moonlight loosens tongues that by day are tied fast.
"The truth was, I'd had the best luck in the world. I'd met him--and
you. You went out of your way to make things pleasant for me, a
stranger. And by just being yourselves you shamed me into looking at
things from your point of view. It's a very good point of