ot notice, or pretended that she didn't,
that he locked the door and put the key in his pocket. He sat down in a
chair, under the light; and she went to work deftly.

"I've got some make-up, and to-morrow morning I'll paint it for you."

"You don't ask any questions," he said, with grimness.

"Would it relieve your eye any?" lightly.

He laughed. "No; but it might relieve my mind."

"Well, then, why did you do so foolish a thing? At your age! Don't you
know that you can't go on whipping every man you take a dislike to?"

"I haven't taken any dislike to Courtlandt. But I saw him kiss you."

"I can take care of myself."

"Perhaps. I asked him to explain. He refused. One thing puzzled me, though
I didn't know what it was at the time. Now, when a fellow steals a kiss
from a beautiful woman like you, Nora, I don't see why he should feel mad
about it. When he had all but knocked your daddy to by-by, he said that
you could explain.... Don't press so hard," warningly. "Well, can you?"

"Since you saw what he did, I do not see where explanations on my part are
necessary."

"Nora, I've never caught you in a lie. I never want to. When you were
little you were the truthfullest thing I ever saw. No matter what kind of
a licking was in store for you, you weren't afraid; you told the truth....
There, that'll do. Put some cotton over it and bind it with a
handkerchief. It'll be black all right, but the swelling will go down. I
can tell 'em a tennis-ball hit me. It was more like a cannon-ball, though.
Say, Nora, you know I've always pooh-poohed these amateurs. People used to
say that there were dozens of men in New York in my prime who could have
laid me cold. I used to laugh. Well, I guess they were right. Courtlandt's
got the stiffest kick I ever ran into. A pile-driver, and if he had landed
on my jaw, it would have been _dormi bene_, as you say when you bid me
good night in dago. That's all right now until to-morrow. I want to talk
to you. Draw up a chair. There! As I said, I've never caught you in a lie,
but I find that you've been living a lie for two years. You haven't been
square to me, nor to your mother, nor to the chaps that came around and
made love to you. You probably didn't look at it that way, but there's the
fact. I'm not Paul Pry; but accidentally I came across this," taking the
document from his pocket and handing it to her. "Read it. What's the
answer?"

Nora's hands trembled.

"Takes you a long time to r