imple.

She replied:

I have no desire to alleviate your confessed boredom. Your
persistence would be praiseworthy if well directed. Waters wear away
stone, the wind crumbles the marble, but a woman is not moved till
she wishes to be. I never thought that I should dabble in an
intrigue of this sort, and I am surprised at the amusement it
affords me. I really owe you some gratitude. The few I have met who
know you tell me that you are a "nice young man."

He rebelled at the adjective. Every man has some portion of self-love.
So his next effort was a passionate denial that he was nice. When should
he meet her? The postman brought him a letter which contained one
word--_Nimmer!_ He sent her four pages, a frank and witty description of
himself and friends, his past and some of theirs.

On the day she received this letter a cablegram came to her from the far
Mediterranean. Whatever it contained had the effect to cause all
restraint to disappear from the tone of her letters. They became
charming; and more and more Hillard found himself loving a Voice. All
his watching, all his traps, came to no successful end. She was too
clever for him. He sought the mail-department of the great newspaper;
the clerk couldn't remember, there were so many calling for mail.
Letters passed to and fro daily now, but always she declared that it was
impossible for them to meet. To write a letter was one thing, to meet a
strange man in an unconventional manner was another. No, it was out of
the question to dine with him in a restaurant. It was equally out of the
question to cook a dinner where she lived, as she and her maid dined at
a small restaurant near-by. Would he not be content with the romance and
let the reality go? Finally he proposed to bring the dinner all cooked
from the club. Two days went by without a sign; then the blue letter
came.

I surrender. The most fatal thing in life is curiosity. It has the
power to lead us into all manner of trouble. And I have my share of
curiosity. Remember, you never would have found me. I may dwell in
a garret; I may be hideous; perhaps nothing remains to me but my
voice. Whatever you have painted me in your imagination, I tell you
that I shall prove directly the opposite. And now the terms. And if
you do not follow them confidently and blindly, your dinner will
grow cold in the carriage. Dinner will be at eight, February fir