en his easy task to melt. But he had never expected to
be looked at as if he were a specimen in a museum, and that was how he
was feeling now. Jill was not looking at him--she was inspecting him,
examining him, and he chafed under the process.

Jill, unconscious of the discomfort she was causing, continued to
gaze. She was trying to discover in just what respect he had changed
from the god he had been. Certainly not in looks. He was as handsome
as ever--handsomer, indeed, for the sunshine and clean breezes of the
Atlantic had given him an exceedingly becoming coat of tan. And yet he
must have changed, for now she could look upon him quite
dispassionately and criticize him without a tremor. It was like seeing
a copy of a great painting. Everything was there, except the one thing
that mattered, the magic and the glamour. It was like.... She suddenly
remembered a scene in the dressing-room when the company had been in
Baltimore. Lois Denham, duly the recipient of the sunburst which her
friend Izzy had promised her, had unfortunately, in a spirit of
girlish curiosity, taken it to a jeweller to be priced, and the
jeweller had blasted her young life by declaring it a paste imitation.
Jill recalled how the stricken girl--previous to calling Izzy on the
long distance and telling him a number of things which, while probably
not news to him, must have been painful hearing--had passed the vile
object round the dressing-room for inspection. The imitation was
perfect. It had been impossible for the girls to tell that the stones
were not real diamonds. Yet the jeweller, with his sixth sense, had
seen through them in a trifle under ten seconds. Jill came to the
conclusion that her newly-discovered love for Wally Mason had equipped
her with a sixth sense, and that by its aid she was really for the
first time seeing Derek as he was.

Derek had not the privilege of being able to read Jill's thoughts. All
he could see was the outer Jill, and the outer Jill, as she had always
done, was stirring his emotions. Her daintiness afflicted him. Not for
the first, the second, or the third time since they had come into each
other's lives, he was astounded at the strength of the appeal which
Jill had for him when they were together, as contrasted with its
weakness when they were apart. He made another attempt to establish
the scene on a loftier plane.

"What a fool I was!" he sighed. "Jill! Can you ever forgive me?"

He tried to take her hand. J