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 rondeaux and triolets, and the year will simply fly. Heigho! I’m glad I’m going to see something big, if it’s only the Atlantic.”

“You are very cruel,” he said.

“Am I? But it’s not cruel to be cruel if nobody’s hurt, is it? And I am so tired of nice little verses and pretty little dances and dainty little dinners. Oh, if I were only a man!”

“Thank God you’re not!” said he.

“If I were a man, I would do just one big thing in my life, even if I had to settle down to a life of snippets and trifles afterwards.”

Her eyes were shining. They always glittered, but now they were starry. The drifted white folds across her breast stirred to her quickened breath.

“If you loved me, Sybil, I could do something great!” said he.

“But I don’t,” she said—“at any rate, not now; and I’ve told you so a dozen times. My dear Rupert, the man who needs a woman to save him isn’t worth the saving.”

“What would you call a big thing?” he asked. “Must I conquer an empire for you, or start a new religion? Or shall I merely