y.

"Better than we can. I think she has measured both the danger and her
own strength."

Bobby took a turn or two up and down the room. Then he came back to the
hearthrug.

"She can't do it," he said conclusively. "The odds are all against her.
Lorimer can't pull her down, of course; but he can tug and tug till he
has used up all her strength and she has to let him go. And then what?
Miss Gannion, do you honestly think it worth the while?"

"No; I do not," she said reluctantly.

"Then why the deuce do you argue for it?" he asked, with a recurrence of
his former temper. "I beg your pardon, Miss Gannion; but this maddens
me, and I came here to have you help me find a way out. Instead, you are
in favor of Beatrix's signing her own death warrant."

"No," she said slowly. "Down in my heart of hearts, I think it is all a
mistake, a terrible mistake; and I have tried in vain to find a way to
prevent it. Then, each time I think it over, I am afraid to prevent it,
because it seems to me that Beatrix's mistake is just a little bit
nobler than the safe course which we ourselves would take."

"Have you heard Mr. Thayer say what he thinks about it?" Sally asked.

"Not lately."

Sally's eyes were under less subjection than her tongue, and Miss
Gannion answered the question they so plainly asked.

"Long ago, before the night of the concert, even, Mr. Thayer spoke of
the matter to me. Since then he has never mentioned it."

"I wish you would ask him what he thinks now," Sally said bluntly. "He
knows Mr. Lorimer better than any of us do, and he should be able to
judge what we ought to do about it."

"The honest fact is," Bobby broke in thoughtfully; "we can't one of us
do a solitary thing about it, but get together and grumble. Beatrix
hasn't a clinging, confiding nature; she makes up her own mind and she
doesn't change it easily. If she has decided to marry Lorimer, we can
kneel in a ring at her feet and shed tears by the pint, and all the good
it will do us will be the chance of making her die of pneumonia caused
by the surrounding dampness. But it's a beastly shame! I'd rather she
married Arlt and done with it. If you've got to form a character, it's
better to start in while the character is young."

Miss Gannion caught at the opportunity for a digression.

"Mr. Arlt is coming to lunch," she observed.

"To-day? I didn't know he was back in town."

"He came last night."

"Was Mr. Thayer with him?"

"No; Mr. Tha