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346 east a wisp of a twilight moon glimmered over the sea, scarcely more than a pearly flake in the paling blue of the sky.

"You must forgive me a great deal," begged Sinclair.

"Indeed, I think there is much to be forgiven," Joan assented. "It wasn't very nice of you."

"I sat up almost all of one night thinking it out," he said, "and then I decided not to tell Elspeth. I was so afraid of spoiling everything for you."

"I don't follow your reasoning," she remarked, staring at the burnished sky.

"I thought you'd be happier," he pleaded, "discovering Garth yourself, and all. I wanted you to find out about him—about everything—without having to mix in my point of view."

"The trouble was," Joan confessed, "that your point of view intruded in any case."

"You must forgive me much," he pleaded. "I misunderstood yours."

She shook her head quickly.

"No, you didn't. I've learned a lot, that's all, and I'm not ashamed to confess it. I must beg forgiveness, too. I said some very dis-agreeable things. I spoke out of impatient