ng to
teach her revolt. She was engaged to Harvey; already, potentially, she
belonged to him. He had interfered with her life, but he had had the
right to interfere.

And also there was in the back of her mind a feeling that was almost
guilt. She had let Henri tell her he loved her. She had even kissed
him. And there had been many times in the little house when Harvey, for
days at a time, had not even entered her thoughts. There was, therefore,
a very real tenderness in the face she lifted for his good-by kiss.

To Belle in the front hall Harvey gave a firm order.

"Don't let any reporters in," he said warningly. "This is strictly our
affair. It's a private matter. It's nobody's business what she did over
there. She's home. That's all that matters."

Belle assented, but she was uneasy. She knew that Harvey was
unreasonably, madly jealous of Sara Lee's work at the little house of
mercy, and she knew him well enough to know that sooner or later he would
show that jealousy. She felt, too, that the girl should have been
allowed her small triumph without interference. There had been
interference enough already. But it was easier to yield to Harvey than
to argue with him.

It was rather a worried Belle who served tea that afternoon in her dining
room, with Mrs. Gregory pouring; the more uneasy, because already she
divined a change in Sara Lee. She was as lovely as ever, even lovelier.
But she had a poise, a steadiness, that were new; and silences in which,
to Belle's shrewd eyes, she seemed to be weighing things.

Reporters clamored to see Sara Lee that day, and, failing to see her,
telephoned Harvey at his office to ask if it was true that she had been
decorated by the King. He was short to the point of affront.

"I haven't heard anything about it," he snapped. "And I wouldn't say if
I had. But it's not likely. What d'you fellows think she was doing
anyhow? Leading a charge? She was running a soup kitchen. That's all."

He hung up the receiver with a jerk, but shortly after that he fell to
pacing his small office. She had not said anything about being decorated,
but the reporters had said it had been in a London newspaper. If she
had not told him that, there were probably many things she had not told
him. But of course there had been very little time. He would see if
she mentioned it that night.

Sara Lee had had a hard day. The children loved her. In the intervals
of calls they crawled over her, and the littlest o