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 "I'll confess, Miss Burnett, that in the—the confusion of the moment I acted stupidly—"

He paused, perhaps hoping for something in the nature of a contradiction. But Prue was staring indifferently at the stove.

"When I saw you alone here my only thought was to—to—"

"To force your society on me," she finished icily.

Wade bit his lip. She was plainly in a very bad humor and he was in danger of losing his own temper, he found. Discretion indicated retreat.

"If you think that,you are mistaken," he said frigidly. "To prove that I have neither desire nor intention of inflicting my society on you., Miss Burnett, I'll—withdraw." Withdraw wasn't just the word for the occasion, but it was the only one that came to him. Annoyed by the reflection that he had spoken like the hero of a melodrama he turned toward the waiting-room door.