not be broken thought
dealers laughed, and fogs delayed work, and Kami was unkind and even
sarcastic, and girls in other studios were painfully polite. It had a
few bright spots, in pictures accepted at provincial exhibitions, but
it wound up with the oft repeated wail, 'And so you see, Dick, I had no
success, though I worked so hard.'

Then pity filled Dick. Even thus had Maisie spoken when she could not
hit the breakwater, half an hour before she had kissed him. And that had
happened yesterday.

'Never mind,' he said. 'I'll tell you something, if you'll believe it.'
The words were shaping themselves of their own accord. 'The whole thing,
lock, stock, and barrel, isn't worth one big yellow sea-poppy below Fort
Keeling.'

Maisie flushed a little. 'It's all very well for you to talk, but you've
had the success and I haven't.'

'Let me talk, then. I know you'll understand. Maisie, dear, it sounds
a bit absurd, but those ten years never existed, and I've come back
again. It really is just the same. Can't you see? You're alone now and
I'm alone.

What's the use of worrying? Come to me instead, darling.'

Maisie poked the gravel with her parasol. They were sitting on a bench.

'I understand,' she said slowly. 'But I've got my work to do, and I must
do it.'

'Do it with me, then, dear. I won't interrupt.'

'No, I couldn't. It's my work,--mine,--mine,--mine! I've been alone all
my life in myself, and I'm not going to belong to anybody except myself.
I remember things as well as you do, but that doesn't count. We were
babies then, and we didn't know what was before us. Dick, don't be
selfish. I think I see my way to a little success next year. Don't take
it away from me.'

'I beg your pardon, darling. It's my fault for speaking stupidly. I
can't expect you to throw up all your life just because I'm back. I'll
go to my own place and wait a little.'

'But, Dick, I don't want you to--go--out of--my life, now you've just
come back.'

'I'm at your orders; forgive me.' Dick devoured the troubled little face
with his eyes. There was triumph in them, because he could not conceive
that Maisie should refuse sooner or later to love him, since he loved
her.

'It's wrong of me,' said Maisie, more slowly than before; 'it's wrong
and selfish; but, oh, I've been so lonely! No, you misunderstand. Now
I've seen you again,--it's absurd, but I want to keep you in my life.'

'Naturally. We belong.'

'We don't; but you always un