s submerged by
Madonna lilies. As he hesitated on the threshold, she smiled wistfully
and at the same time with a certain triumphant confidence in her
setting.

"I was--very sorry to hear you were ill, Babs," he said.

"I've waited for you so long! Won't you kiss me, Eric?"

He picked up the kitten, affecting not to have heard her.

"What is it? A chill? Your mother said---- No, I don't think she told me
what it was."

Restraint faltered with every hesitating word, and Barbara pushed the
kitten's cushion on to the floor.

"Sit down, darling," she begged.

"I must go in a minute," said Eric, gravely consulting his watch.

"Who have you got dining with you?" He hesitated. "Any one?"

"As a matter of fact, I've not. I lied to your mother. You see I didn't
want to meet you, Babs. I didn't want to go through that other night
again."

He was still standing; but, without noticing, he had drawn nearer to the
bed, and she pulled him gently into the chair.

"Haven't you missed me, Eric?" she whispered.

"Damnably!" His laugh was bitter. "I don't see how it's to be avoided,
though. And we only make things worse by prolonging the agony. The
infernal story's spread to Lashmar now."

Barbara's lips curled assertively.

"I'm sorry you should suffer so much by association with me. . . . If
you aren't expecting any one, will you dine with me, Eric?"

He tried to review his position in the moment allowed him before his
answer would begin to seem hesitating. Once in the house, it mattered
little whether he stayed one hour or three; but they were fools, both of
them, to contrive or assent to his being there. Firmly, if indistinctly,
he felt that she was trying to slip behind the decision of their last
meeting.

"I'll stay if you like," he said and watched her ring the bell for her
maid. "Babs, are you well enough to talk seriously? I don't want to say
good-bye, but nothing's changed. We've the choice between a public
contradiction----"

"Or a public engagement? Is that what you're afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of it."

She sank lower in the bed, covering her eyes with her hand.

"You've never asked me to marry you," she said quietly, this time
without a taunt.

"You expressly asked me not to."

"You always--boasted that you weren't in love with me."

A hint of triumph in her voice made him wonder in fear and disgust
whether this was the way in which she had played with Jack Waring. She
was sweeping him faster