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 "That's all I have to say. I think you'd better go."

"Go?" he repeated, and his bewilderment was so great that he could only inquire, feebly, "Go where?"

"Back to your club," she said angrily. "Or to keep your engagement with Miss Peale. Or anywhere you like!"

He got up and came to her. "What is it you want me to do, Claire? Do you mean that though you won't have me you're advising me not to marry anybody else?"

"Good heavens!" she cried. "Would that be so hard for a man? Plenty of women bear it. Couldn't you?"

"I don't see why I should," he said. "There's no reason in the world why I shouldn't marry if I wish to. Why shouldn't I now—if I wish to?"

"You poor goose!" she cried. "Because you'll only be marrying on the rebound after I refused you! Because you'll only be falling for peach-bloom that'll be gone forever in an hour or so! Because you'll have been caught by a self-centred little monkey's knowing how to say 'The first time I saw you I wondered who you were!' Wait till you find a woman who can take some interest in you for yourself and not in your