know about this, Terry? You and the General have
been such good pals, and---- I have to say it, even though Lord
Taborley is present: there were a great number of your friends who were
rather afraid----"

"Then they won't have to be afraid any longer," Terry cut in with icy
sweetness. "When it's reported to the General that I've told this story,
he won't have to be rather afraid either. It'll set all his doubts at
rest."

Tabs had sat puzzled and horrified while she had been talking.
Everything that he could remember about her was gentle; it wasn't like
her to be cruel. Now at last he realized that it was for his sake that
she was being cruel--far more cruel to herself than to any one else. She
had so little faith in her strength to break with Braithwaite that she
was building up a protective wall of contempt by the spread of this
damaging story. If Braithwaite heard it, she might well hope to rouse
his hatred and save herself further effort.

From across the table her eyes sought his in appeal; his answered hers
with intuitive comprehension. But his mind was stunned with apprehension
at the discovery that her passion for this man meant so much that his
hate would be a lighter burden than his love.

Maisie turned to Tabs with veiled disdain. "I suppose it was you who
told her this, Lord Taborley?"

He paid her scant attention and continued looking at Terry. "On the
contrary." He spoke with unruffled urbanity. "It was General
Braithwaite--Steely Jack as he was nicknamed in the Army. He never lost
an inch of trench, so they say. Like your own first husband, Mrs.
Lockwood, he's most to be feared when every one else would have given up
hoping. Like myself, though he doesn't know it, he's a round-the-corner
person. Curious, Terry, that you should have attracted two
round-the-corner admirers! It makes one almost believe that you're a
round-the-corner person yourself."

He had said it without consciousness of magnanimity. There was nothing
magnanimous about stating the truth according to his code of honor. He
was seeing the bleak look that would come into Braithwaite's face should
he hear of this happening. He was wondering whether Braithwaite
possessed the insight into feminine strategy not to take offense, but to
interpret it as surrender.

Terry was speaking again. "My dear Maisie, if ever you get to know Lord
Taborley, you'll learn to have a better opinion of him. He plays with
all his cards on the table. I think