remained single to the end of my days."

"Oh, no, you wouldn't, Aunt Maude. You would have married the wrong
man--that's the way it always ends--if women didn't marry the wrong men
half the world would be old maids."

Philip Meade was much in love. He had money, family, good looks and
infinite patience. Some day he meant to marry Eve. But he was aware that
she was not yet in love with him.

She came down gowned for the street. And thus kept him waiting. "It was
Aunt Maude's fault. She made me dress. Pip, where shall we walk?"

He did not care. He cared only to be with her. He told her so, and she
smiled up at him wistfully. "You're such a dear--I wish----"

She stopped.

"What do you wish?" he asked eagerly.

"For the--sun. You are the moon. May I call you my moon-man, Pip?"

He knew what she meant "Yes. But you must remember that some day I shall
not be content to take second place--I shall fight for the head of your
line of lovers."

"Line of lovers--_Pip_. I don't like the sound of it."

"Why not? It's true."

Again she was wistful. "I wonder how many of them really--care? Pip, it
is the one-proposal girl who is lucky. She has no problems. She simply
takes the man she can get!"

They were swinging along Fifth Avenue. He stopped at a flower shop and
bought her a tight little knot of yellow roses which matched her hair.
She was in brown velvet with brown boots and brown furs. Her skin showed
pink and white in the clear cold. She and the big man by her side were a
pair good to look upon, and people turned to look.

Coming to a famous jewel shop she turned in. "I am going to have all of
Aunt Maude's opals set in platinum to make a long chain. She gave them to
me; and there'll be diamonds at intervals. I want to wear smoke-colored
tulle at Winifred Ames' dinner dance--and the opals will light it."

Philip Meade's mind was not poetic, yet as his eyes followed Evelyn, he
was aware that this was an atmosphere which belonged to her. Her beauty
was opulent, needing richness to set it off, needing the shine of jewels,
the shimmer of silk----

If he married her he could give her--a tiara of diamonds--a necklace of
pearls--a pendant--a ring. His eyes swept the store adorning her.

When they came out he said, "I think I am showing a greatness of mind
which should win your admiration."

"Why?"

"In taking you to Crossroads."

"Why?"

"You know why. Shall you write to Brooks that we are coming?"

"No. I w