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188 !" announced Gerry, doing his best to look magisterial.

"I couldn't live without you, Gerry," she had the honesty to acknowledge. "And they said I was going to lose you!" "Not if I know it," proclaimed her captive.

Teddie looked up for a moment at the sadly wrecked roadster.

"But it wasn't sporting of me, Gerry!"

"What wasn't?"

"Everything—everything I've done!"

Gerry reached out with his one good arm.

"No queen, Teddie, can possibly do wrong. But there's one thing, Belovedness, I want to know, I've got to know." "What is it?"

"I've got to know just why you kissed me!"

Teddie studied him with solemn eyes. Then she studied the lengthening shadows along the valley-slope and the blue hills beyond.

"Because, Gerry, you're so different from other men," she finally acknowledged.