for asking--it won't hurt you to
go back to England?"

Her eyes met his with absolute candour. "No, dear," she said.

"I was thinking," he said, stumbling a little, "sometimes old scenes,
you know--they bring back--old heartaches."

"My heart will never ache--in that way," she answered gently, "while I
have you." She paused a moment; then: "I'd like you to understand,
Will," she said. "It isn't that I have forgotten. I have simply passed
on. One does, you know. And I think that is--sometimes--how the last
come to be first. It doesn't hurt me any longer to remember my old love.
And it mustn't hurt you either. For it isn't a thing that could ever
again come between us. Nothing ever could, Will. We are too closely
united for that. And it is your love, your faith, your patience, that
have made it so."

She ended with her head back, her lips raised to his, and in the kiss
that passed between them there was something sacred, something in the
nature of a bond.

Yet in a moment she was smiling again, the while she slipped from his
close embrace. "And now you are going to dress for the ball. Come, you
won't refuse me just for to-night--just for to-night!"

She pleaded with him like a girl and she proved irresistible. Half
dazzled by her, he surrendered to her wiles.

"I will come if you like, Daisy; but I'm afraid I shall only be in the
way. My dancing has grown very rusty from long disuse."

"What nonsense!" she protested. "Why, I only married you for the sake of
your dancing. If you don't come, I shall spend the whole evening dancing
with Nick."

"Oh, I'm not afraid of Nick!" said Will. "He is as safe as the Bank of
England."

"Is he?" said Daisy. "You wait till you catch us alone some day. I tell
you frankly, Will, I've kissed Nick more than once!"

"My dear," he said, "your frankness is your salvation. You have my full
permission to do so as often as you meet."

She made a face at him, and finally freed herself. "Many thanks! But you
wouldn't like me to create a scandal by dancing with him all the
evening, I am sure. So," giving him a small, emphatic push, "go at once
and dress your lazy self, and do your duty as a husband for once!"

"Shall I be adequately rewarded for it?" questioned Will, looking back
as he turned to go.

She blew him an airy kiss. "Yes, you shall have half my waltzes."

He still lingered. "And the other half?"

"The other half," said Daisy, "will be divided equally between Nick and
m