over. I saw how enormously valuable you'd be to me, in this job you've
got now, and I offered it to you.

"And then, all in a wave the other feeling came back. On my way to New
York I decided that as long as I felt like that I'd have nothing more to
do with you. A man couldn't possibly do any decent work with a woman he
was in love with, either after he'd got her or while he was trying to
get her. That's why you didn't hear from me within a month after I'd got
back to New York. But as time went on I forgot how strong my feeling had
been. I decided. I'd got over it. I'd been looking for some one else to
take the place I'd designed for you and I couldn't find anybody.

"I might have got a man, but I didn't want a man, because if he were
clever enough to be any good he'd be out after my job from the very
first day. It would suit Abe Shuman down to the ground to have me teach
a man all I know in two years and then put him in my place at half my
pay. As for women, well, I've never seen a woman yet with just your
combination of qualities, your drive and your knack. So I persuaded
myself that it would be all right. That I could get along without
thinking about you the other way. And I sent for you.

"But the minute I saw you I knew I'd have to look out. I've tried to;
you know that. I've been treating you like a sweep since you've been
down here. I didn't mean to but I couldn't help it. I was in such a
rage with myself for going on like a sentimental fool about you. And the
way you took it, always good-humored and never afraid, made me all the
more ashamed of myself and all the more in love with you. And so last
night I burst. In a way I'm glad I did. I think perhaps it will clear
the air. But I'll come to that later. I want to know now whether you're
convinced that what I said is true. That the fact that I fell in love
with you has been against you and not in your favor."

"Yes," Rose said, "I'm convinced of that and I want to thank you for
telling me. Because the other feeling was pretty--discouraging."

"All right," he said with a nod, "that's understood. Now, here's my
proposition. That you go on working for me exactly as if nothing had
happened."

"Oh, but that's impossible!" she said, and when he put in "Why is it?"
she told him he had just said so himself. That it was impossible for a
man to do decent work with a woman he was in love with.

"That's what I thought last night when I blew up," he admitted, "but
I've