that feeling of sympathy and comprehension which exists among
people of the same region, brought up in much the same way. Instead of
cutting him off, she temporized. Said she with a serenely careless
laugh that might have let a man more expert in the ways of women into
the secret of how little she cared about him: "You mean forgive you
for dropping me so abruptly and running after her?"

"That's not exactly the way to put it," objected he.

"Put it any way you like," said Jane. "I forgive you. I didn't care
at the time, and I don't care now."

Jane was looking entrancing in that delicate light. Davy was
noting--was feeling--this. Also, he was reflecting--in a high-minded
way--upon the many material, mental and spiritual advantages of a
marriage with her. Just the woman to be a governor's wife--a senator's
wife--a president's wife. Said he:

"Jane, my feeling for you has never changed."

"Really?" said Jane. "Why, I thought you told me at one time that you
were in love with me?"

"And I always have been, dear--and am," said Davy, in his deepest,
tenderest tones. "And now that I am winning a position worthy of
you----"

"I'll see," cut in Jane. "Let's not talk about it tonight." She felt
that if he kept on she might yield to the temptation to say something
mocking, something she would regret if it drove him away finally.

He was content. The ice had been broken. The Selma Gordon business
had been disposed of. The way was clear for straight-away love-making
the next time they met. Meanwhile he would think about her, would get
steam up, would have his heart blazing and his words and phrases all in
readiness.

Every human being has his or her fundamental vanity that must be kept
alive, if life is to be or to seem to be worth living. In man this
vanity is usually some form of belief in his mental ability, in woman
some form of belief in her physical charm. Fortunately--or, rather,
necessarily--not much is required to keep this vanity alive--or to
restore it after a shock, however severe. Victor Dorn had been
compelled to give Jane Hastings' vanity no slight shock. But it
recovered at once. Jane saw that his failure to yield was due not to
lack of potency in her charms, but to extraordinary strength of purpose
in his character. Thus, not only was she able to save herself from any
sense of humiliation, but also she was without any feeling of
resentment against him. She liked him and admired h