olutely into the blaze. She
had resumed command of her voice. "Ah, pardon me, now I understand many
things that puzzled me at first.... I--I am not a fool in money
matters." She hesitated.

"I know you are not," he assured her gently. "And that, if you will
understand, increased the small difficulty."

"Yes, I understand. But somehow--it was a long time since I had been
acquainted with--with----"

"Want," he suggested. "Since you know the worst, do not hurt me more
than you are obliged."

"God knows," she said, after an interval of musing, "I would hurt you
last of all living men. Will you be kind to me, and trust me?"

"On conditions."

"Yes?" She glanced up with a strange eagerness in her eyes. "What
conditions?"

"That you do not pity me at all; that you believe I have suffered
nothing, or only such pain as has edged the joy of serving you."

She looked away and into the fire. "You make me very proud," she said.
"Yes. I can easily grant your conditions. I could not pity a man who
practised so noble a courtesy."

The Commandant shook his head with a whimsical smile. "My dear," he
answered, "it's undeniably pleasant to stand well in your opinion, but
I am not used to compliments, and you run some risk of making me a vain
fellow. You asked me to trust you. With what?"

"With the reason why you are poor."

"That," said he, "can be very simply told," and, briefly, in the
simplest possible style, he told her of his brother's death, and how
his sister-in-law and her family had been left in destitution. "You
see," he wound up, "it's just an ordinary sad little tale. Cases of
that kind happen daily, all the world over. One must be thankful when
they happen within reach of help."

"Is your sister-in-law thankful?" asked Vashti, sharply. "But there!"
she added, as he stared at her obviously at a loss to find the question
relevant. "You are quite right. It really does not matter two pins
whether she is thankful or not." She turned her eyes to the fire again
and sat musing. "But I am glad to have heard the story," she went on
after a while. "It explains--oh, many things! I have been blind,
inconsiderate; but I am seeing light at last. Do you know, my friend,
that at first I found a great change in you?"

"Why--bless me!--you had only seen me once before in your life, and
then for two minutes!"

"Listen, please, and don't interrupt. I found a great change in you,
and the reason of it seemed to lie all on the sur