ike that for--for love,' she murmured.

I blushed slightly. 'I scarcely think it's more than a passing
infatuation.'

'I feel convinced it's stronger than that,' she replied tensely.

'I hope not,' I said in an alarmed tone. 'It would be horrid to see
the poor fellow in the throes of a hopeless passion.'

'Perhaps after all it might not be quite hopeless,' rejoined Marion
softly.

I raised my head sharply. 'I don't think you are justified in that
remark,' I said stiffly, 'what you saw between him and me was only a
little harmless fun. As if, indeed, there is any man living who could
make me forget dear old Henry for a minute----'

'You!' exclaimed Marion with a start. 'I wasn't thinking of you,
Netta.'

'Then who----?'

'I--I--was referring to--myself.' She put down her knitting on her
knee and looked at me half defiantly, her cheeks flushed.

'But, my dear Marion, when has he shown you the slightest attention?' I
was impelled to remark. 'You have always professed the profoundest
contempt for him.'

'Not contempt, Netta. I have remarked that he was untidy.'

'You said the other evening that you considered him to be the last man
on earth a woman could like.'

'No doubt, dearest, but that was before I had discovered a woman
kissing him.'

'Perhaps you regret it was not yourself in that enviable position,
darling?'

'No, my love. I don't think the position of a married woman discovered
kissing a man other than her husband _is_ enviable; do you?'

Marion's obtuse and unreasonable attitude puzzled me. I am quick
tempered, and was about to reply hotly, when the door opened and
Elizabeth entered.

'Miss Marryun,' she said, nodding mysteriously in the direction of my
sister-in-law, 'I bin lookin' at the cards for you an' I see a warnin'
in 'em. You'll 'ave to keep an eye on 'im if you want to keep 'im.'

Marion did not look so mystified as I expected at this unusual
outburst. 'Thank you for the warning, Elizabeth,' she said in an
affable tone.

'You gotta rival for 'is affeckshuns,' continued Elizabeth.

Marion raised an eyebrow in my direction. 'No doubt,' she commented.

'What is all this nonsense?' I asked, a little testily.

'Elizabeth is, as you know, a fatalist,' explained Marion. 'She places
her faith in cards, which, I am repeatedly telling her, is utter
nonsense.'

'It aint nonsense,' expostulated Elizabeth in an injured tone. 'You
gotta fair rival acrost your parth----'