man about whom you know absolutely nothing."

"Not in love with him."

"Where does he come from? Who is he?"

"I don't know, don't care; nothing to do with me."

"Just because of his soft eyes, and his wheedling voice, and that half-
caressing, half-devotional manner of his. Do you imagine he keeps it
specially for you? I gave you credit for more sense."

"I'm not in love with him, I tell you. He's down on his luck, and I'm
sorry for him, that's all."

"And if he is, whose fault was it, do you think?"

"It doesn't matter. We are none of us saints. He's trying to pull
himself together, and I respect him for it. It's our duty to be
charitable and kind to one another in this world!"

"Oh, well, I'll tell you how you can be kind to him: by pointing out to
him that he is wasting his time. With his talents, now that he knows his
business, he could be on the staff of some big paper, earning a good
income. Put it nicely to him, but be firm. Insist on his going. That
will be showing true kindness to him--and to yourself, too, I'm thinking,
my dear."

And Tommy understood and appreciated the sound good sense underlying
Jane's advice, and the very next day but one, seizing the first
opportunity, acted upon it; and all would have gone as contemplated if
only Dick Danvers had sat still and listened, as it had been arranged in
Tommy's programme that he should.

"But I don't want to go," said Dick.

"But you ought to want to go. Staying here with us you are doing
yourself no good."

He rose and came to where she stood with one foot upon the fender,
looking down into the fire. His doing this disconcerted her. So long as
he remained seated at the other end of the room, she was the sub-editor,
counselling the staff for its own good. Now that she could not raise her
eyes without encountering his, she felt painfully conscious of being
nothing more important than a little woman who was trembling.

"It is doing me all the good in the world," he told her, "being near to
you."

"Oh, please do sit down again," she urged him. "I can talk to you so
much better when you're sitting down."

But he would not do anything he should have done that day. Instead he
took her hands in his, and would not let them go; and the reason and the
will went out of her, leaving her helpless.

"Let me be with you always," he pleaded. "It means the difference
between light and darkness to me. You have done so much for me. Will
y