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 into a long and detailed explanation. 'I've got her address put away somewhere, I guess, if you want to see it,' he finished, five, ten, fifteen minutes later.

'Oh, no,' said Sheilah, 'it doesn't matter. Just so she bought it and paid for it, and had a friend who did the same.'

Oh, it was much simpler deceiving Sheilah than he had feared.

'I've got some other orders, too, for little pieces of furniture,' he dared announce.

'How nice! How very nice!' softly she exclaimed, and lapsed into a long silence.

She would probably never see Roger Dallinger again. He would never know whether or not she was offended by his kiss. Was it a kiss? She closed her eyes. She could see the sifting moonlight better in the dark, and relive more vividly the pulsing seconds of the strange, unnamable caress—so indefinite, so evanescent in quality, and yet so piercing. The fragrance without the flower. The sharp edge without the blade. Strange the edge cut even deeper in retrospect, the fragrance was even sweeter. Suddenly Sheilah opened her eyes wide. This wouldn't do!

'And you say Phillip has grown fat?' she exclaimed, 'and Roddie tall, and Laetitia freckled?' (The children had been at home for a week now.) 'I'm ever so anxious to see them. I can hardly wait.'