At this she did look thoughtful. "Your mother is going with you?"

"Good heavens!" he groaned. "Lucy, doesn't it make any difference to you
that I am going?"

At this her cordial smile instantly appeared again. "Yes, of course,"
she said. "I'm sure I'll miss you ever so much. Are you to be gone
long?"

He stared at her wanly. "I told you indefinitely," he said. "We've made
no plans--at all--for coming back."

"That does sound like a long trip!" she exclaimed admiringly. "Do you
plan to be travelling all the time, or will you stay in some one place
the greater part of it? I think it would be lovely to--"

"Lucy!"

He halted; and she stopped with him. They had come to a corner at the
edge of the "business section" of the city, and people were everywhere
about them, brushing against them, sometimes, in passing.

"I can't stand this," George said, in a low voice. "I'm just about ready
to go in this drug-store here, and ask the clerk for something to keep
me from dying in my tracks! It's quite a shock, you see, Lucy!"

"What is?"

"To find out certainly, at last, how deeply you've cared for me! To see
how much difference this makes to you! By Jove, I have mattered to you!"

Her cordial smile was tempered now with good-nature. "George!" She
laughed indulgently. "Surely you don't want me to do pathos on a
downtown corner!"

"You wouldn't 'do pathos' anywhere!"

"Well--don't you think pathos is generally rather fooling?"

"I can't stand this any longer," he said. "I can't! Good-bye, Lucy!" He
took her hand. "It's good-bye--I think it's good-bye for good, Lucy!"

"Good-bye! I do hope you'll have the most splendid trip." She gave his
hand a cordial little grip, then released it lightly. "Give my love to
your mother. Good-bye!"

He turned heavily away, and a moment later glanced back over his
shoulder. She had not gone on, but stood watching him, that same casual,
cordial smile on her face to the very last; and now, as he looked back,
she emphasized her friendly unconcern by waving her small hand to him
cheerily, though perhaps with the slightest hint of preoccupation, as if
she had begun to think of the errand that brought her downtown.

In his mind, George had already explained her to his own poignant
dissatisfaction--some blond pup, probably, whom she had met during that
"perfectly gorgeous time!" And he strode savagely onward, not looking
back again.

But Lucy remained where she was until he was out of si