any possible way of holding Davy,
she would take it--not because she wished to, or would, marry him, but
because she had put her mark upon him. But this new rage was of the
kind a clever woman has small difficulty in dissembling.

"Indeed I do appreciate her, Davy," said she sweetly. "And I hope you
will be happy with her."

"You think I can get her?" said he, fatuously eager. "You think she
likes me? I've been rather hoping that because it seized me so
suddenly and so powerfully it must have seized her, too. I think often
things occur that way."

"In novels," said Jane, pleasantly judicial. "But in real life about
the hardest thing to do is for a man to make a woman care for
him--really care for him."

"Well, no matter how hard I have to try----"

"Of course," pursued Miss Hastings, ignoring his interruption, "when a
man who has wealth and position asks a woman who hasn't to marry him,
she usually accepts--unless he happens to be downright repulsive, or
she happens to be deeply and hopefully in love with another man."

Davy winced satisfactorily. "Do you suspect," he presently asked,
"that she's in love with Victor Dorn?"

"Perhaps," said Jane reflectively. "Probably. But I'd not feel
discouraged by that if I were you."

"Dorn's a rather attractive chap in some ways."

Davy's manner was so superior that Jane almost laughed in his face.
What fools men were. If Victor Dorn had position, weren't surrounded
by his unquestionably, hopelessly common family, weren't deliberately
keeping himself common--was there a woman in the world who wouldn't
choose him without a second thought being necessary, in preference to a
Davy Hull? How few men there were who could reasonably hope to hold
their women against all comers.

Victor Dorn might possibly be of those few. But Davy Hull--the idea
was ridiculous. All his advantages--height, looks, money,
position--were excellent qualities in a show piece; but they weren't
the qualities that make a woman want to live her life with a man, that
make her hope he will be able to give her the emotions woman-nature
craves beyond anything.

"He is very attractive," said Jane, "and I've small doubt that Selma
Gordon is infatuated with him. But--I shouldn't let that worry me if I
were you." She paused to enjoy his anxiety, then proceeded: "She is a
level-headed girl. The girls of the working class--the intelligent
ones--have had the silly sentimentalities knocked out of