urse!" said Olga quickly. "You're a man!"

He laughed. "You've made that remark before. I assure you I can't help
it. No, I certainly wouldn't place all my possessions at the disposal of
even my best friend. There would always be--reservations."

He looked at her with a smile in his eyes, but Olga did not respond to
it. An inner voice had suddenly warned her to step warily. She took up
the coffee-urn again.

"I wouldn't give much for that kind of friendship," she said.

"But is it always in one's power to pass on one's possessions?"
questioned Max. "I maintain that the possessions are entitled to a voice
in the matter."

"I don't understand you," said Olga, in a tone that implied that she had
no desire to do so.

"No?" said Max indifferently. "Well, I think unselfishness should never
be carried to extremes. Some women have such a passion for
self-sacrifice that they will stick at nothing to satisfy it. The result
is that unwilling victims get offered up, and you will admit that that
is scarcely fair."

Olga handed him his coffee. "Will you cut the ham, please?" she said.

"Do you catch my meaning yet?" asked Max, not to be thwarted.

She shook her head. "But really it doesn't matter, and it's getting
late."

"Sorry to keep you," he replied imperturbably, "but when I take the
trouble to expound my views, I like to guard against any
misunderstanding. Just tell me this, and I shall be satisfied. If you
were at a ball, and you had a partner you liked and who liked you, and
you came upon your friend crying because she wanted that particular
partner--would you give him up to her?"

"Of course I should," said Olga. "I don't call that a very serious
self-sacrifice."

"No?" said Max. He gave her a very peculiar look, and pursed his lips
for an instant as if about to whistle. "And if the unfortunate partner
objected?"

Olga began vigorously to cut some bread. "He would have to put up with
it," she said.

Max rose without comment and went to the ham. There followed a somewhat
marked silence as he commenced to carve it. Then: "Pardon my
persistence, fair lady," he said. "But just one more question--if you've
no objection. Suppose you were my partner and Hunt-Goring the forlorn
friend, do you think I should be justified in passing you on to him? It
would be a considerable self-sacrifice on my part."

"Oh, really!" exclaimed Olga, in hot exasperation. "What absurd question
will you ask next?"

He looked across a