confident I knew her struggle.

"You might deceive some one else, Miss Billie," I said quietly, "and
perhaps if I were not here this programme might indeed be carried out--I
believe Le Gaire is cur enough to insist upon it. But I am here, and you
are not going to marry him, unless you tell me with your own lips that
you love the man."

She stared into my eyes, as though doubting my sanity.

"Will you consent to say that?"

"I deny your right to even ask."

"Yet I shall take silence as a negative, and act accordingly. No, you
will not hate me for it; you may imagine you do for the moment, but the
time will come when your heart will thank me for interference, for
saving you from a foolish sacrifice. You do not love Le Gaire; you
cannot look me in the eyes and say that you do."

"You are impertinent, ungentlemanly. I simply refuse to answer a
question you have no right to ask."

"I assume the right in accordance with a law as old as man."

"What law?"

"The law of love," I returned earnestly, "the love of a man for the one
woman."

I could see her slight form sway as the full significance of these words
came to her; her cheeks flamed, but there was no shadowing of her eyes.

"I am going in, Lieutenant Galesworth," she said finally, drawing back
to the open window. "You have forgotten yourself, forgotten the
respect due me."

"But I have not, Billie," and in my earnestness I neglected all caution,
stepping forward into the full glare of light. "The highest respect is
the basis of true love, and, little girl, I love you."

She clung to the frame of the window, rendered speechless by my
audacity, struggling with herself.

"Oh, don't say that! I cannot listen; I must not. Believe me, Lieutenant
Galesworth, I do not altogether blame you, for I have been indiscreet,
foolish. I--I have not meant to be; I merely endeavored to prove kind
and friendly, never once dreaming it would come to this. Now it must
end, absolutely end; even if you despise me for a heartless coquette,
there is no other way. My path is laid out for me, and I must walk in
it. It may not be altogether pleasant, but I made my choice, and it is
too late now for retreat. I want you to help me, not make it
any harder."

"By going away, you mean? By leaving you to be coerced?"

"I was not coerced; it was my own free choice."

We were both so interested as to forget everything except ourselves,
utterly oblivious to the situation, or to what was o