respectable young men. Both had been in love with her, and
both were wounded at her refusal. Perhaps this was why the mention of
her name made them start as if with pain.

"Do you accept?" said Winfield.

"What do our pattern young men say?" sneered Leicester, and he looked
from one to another as if awaiting their answer.

CHAPTER II

THE CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

For a minute there was a silence. In spite of the fact that Radford
Leicester had instilled his own spirit into the party, there was
something in his cynicism that repelled them as well as fascinated them.
They were not bad young men. Not that they had high ideals, or were
filled with lofty enthusiasms. But they had been reared on conventional
lines, and although neither of them would have admitted it, they were
influenced by the conventions which had surrounded their lives. To them
there was something sordid, something repellent, in the thought of a man
coolly offering to marry any one in order that he might prove the truth
of a cynical statement to which he had given utterance. Nevertheless,
they longed to accept his challenge. Radford Leicester's spirit
possessed them; the man's cool and confident cynicism attracted them.
The very daring of the proposal broke down their conventional ideas.
Besides, in spite of Leicester's confidence, they did not believe that
his opinions were true. Especially was this true of Purvis and Sprague.
They had proposed to Miss Olive Castlemaine and had been refused. Other
very eligible young men had also suffered the same fate. Was it likely,
then, that Leicester, whose reputation was so peculiar, would be more
fortunate than they?

More than all this, both of them felt somewhat bitter towards the woman
who had refused them, and although they would not confess it even to
themselves, they would rejoice if she should suffer something of the
humiliation which they had felt. Such a feeling is natural to weak men.
The sting of disappointment made them eager to fasten on anything which
promised them a kind of revenge. They had a feeling that Miss
Castlemaine was proud of her conquests, and they would rejoice if her
pride could be humbled.

"What do our pattern young men say?" repeated Leicester. He emptied his
glass as he spoke, and then turned towards them. "Why, think, my dear
Moody and Sankey," he went on. "You were longing to save me from the
error of my ways a few minutes ago; now here is your chance. It is true
I onl