f
that I ever wavered, but now I know I shall never be tempted again. I
may seem to be taking myself too seriously"--she smiled in her accession
of assurance--"but I have a feeling of greater relief than I dare try to
explain. I am provincial and old-fashioned, and there are things I can't
bring myself to think of lightly. I suppose the prejudices of my youth
cling to me, and I can't dissociate myself from the idea that,
inconspicuous as I am in the general scheme of things, I have my
responsibility to my neighbors, to society, to the world. I am grateful
that I saw the danger in time to save myself. Your coming back was well
timed; it makes me believe"--she added softly--"that there is more than
a fate in these things. I had misgivings from the first; I knew that it
was wrong; but not till now have I seen how wrong it was! And I want you
to be sure that this is final--that I shall never waver again."

"But in a little while, when I am safely out of the way--"

"Your going or coming can make no difference. I can say in all sincerity
that I wish you would stay. I think it would mean much to Phil if you
should. I hope you will change your decision. You must understand that
so far as Mr. Kirkwood and I are concerned there is no reason whatever
for your going."

Lois drew a line in the rug with the point of her parasol, her head bent
in an attitude of reflection.

"As for Tom and me," she said, meeting Nan's eyes after an instant,
"it's only right for you to know from me that he has given me another
chance. He has offered to try me again! It was for Phil's sake. It was
generous--it was noble of him! But"--she shrugged her shoulders--"I've
caused enough misery. Not in a thousand years would I do it!"

Nan nodded, but made no reply. It was enough that she had established
her own position, and nothing that Lois could add really mattered. And
Lois, with her nice sense of values, her feeling for a situation, knew
that the interview was at an end.

A copy of the May number of "Journey's End" lay on a little stand with
other magazines. Her hand rested upon it a moment, as though she thus
referred everything back to Phil, but even this evoked nothing further
from Nan.

Lois walked to the door, murmuring nothings about the weather, the charm
of the flowering yards in the Lane.

At the door she caught Nan's hands, smiled into her eyes, and said, with
all her charm of tone and manner:--

"You _will_ kiss me, won't you!"