ef
characteristic of his face was a certain honesty, which seemed
accentuated at that moment by his undoubted earnestness. The type was
perhaps strange to her. She was almost startled by what she saw.
Scarcely knowing what she did, she allowed him to take the note from her
fingers.

"Thank you very much," she murmured.

Richard procured the change. He would have lifted every one out of the
way if she had been in a hurry. Then he turned round and counted it very
slowly into her hands. From the left one she had removed the glove and
he saw, to his relief, that there was no engagement ring there. He
counted so slowly that towards the end she seemed to become a little
impatient.

"That is quite all right," she said. "It was very kind of you to
trouble."

She spoke very correct English with the slightest of foreign accents. He
looked once more into her eyes.

"It was a pleasure," he declared.

She smiled faintly, an act of graciousness which absolutely turned his
head. With her hand full of plaques, she moved away and found a place a
little lower down the table. Richard fought with his first instinct and
conquered it. He remained where he was, and when he moved it was in
another direction. He went into the bar and ordered a whisky and soda.
He was as excited as he had been in the old days when he had rowed
stroke in a winning race for his college boat. He felt, somehow or
other, that the first step had been a success. She had been inclined at
first to resent his offer. She had looked at him and changed her mind.
Even when she had turned away, she had smiled. It was ridiculous, but he
felt as though he had taken a great step. Presently Lady Weybourne, on
her way to the baccarat rooms, saw him sitting there and looked in.

"Well, Dicky," she exclaimed, "what luck?"

"Sit down, Flossie," he begged. "I've spoken to her."

"You don't mean,--" she began, horrified.

"Oh, no, no! Nothing of that sort!" he interrupted. "Don't think I'm
such a blundering ass. She was trying to get change and couldn't reach.
I took the note from her, got the change and gave it to her. She said,
'Thank you.' When she went away, she smiled."

Lady Weybourne flopped down upon the divan and screamed with laughter.

"Dicky," she murmured, wiping her eyes, "tell me, is that why you are
sitting there, looking as though you could see right into Heaven? Do you
know that your face was one great beam when I came in?"

"Can't help it," he answere