d. "And--and I wish you the best of
luck."

He took her hand, but he was confused by the note of finality in her
voice.

"I don't see any need of being so solemn about saying good-night," he
returned.

He continued to hold her hand firmly.

"But it's good-bye and--God-speed, too," she reminded him.

"How do you make that out?"

"You're going on a long journey, and I--I'm going on a little
journey."

"You? Where are you going?"

He didn't want her to go anywhere. He wanted her to stay right where
she was. Come to think of it, he always wanted her to stay right where
she was. He always thought of her as within reach.

"My vacation begins to-morrow," she answered.

"And you're going away--out of town?"

She nodded.

"You can't do that," he protested. "Why, I was depending upon you
these next few days."

It was difficult for her to tell at the moment whether the strain in
her throat was joy or pain. That he needed her--that was joy; that he
needed her only for the next few days--that was not joy.

"You mustn't depend upon any one these next few days but yourself,"
she answered earnestly. "And after that--just yourself and her."

"That's well enough if everything comes out all right."

"Make it come out right. That's your privilege as a man. Oh, that's
why it's so good to be a man!"

"You ought to have been a man yourself," he told her.

She caught her breath at that, and insisted upon withdrawing her
hand.

"I used to think I'd like to be," she answered.

"And now?"

She shook her head.

He had swung the talk back to her again, when the talk should have
been all of him and Frances.

"It's in you to get everything in the world you want," she said. "I'm
sure of that. All you have to do is to want it hard enough. And now
there are so many things right within your grasp. You won't let go of
them?"

"No," he answered.

"Your home, your wife, and your work--it's wonderful to make good in
so many things all at once! So--good-bye."

"You talk as if you were not coming back again!"

"I'm coming back to Carter, Rand & Seagraves--if that's what you
mean."

"And you're coming back here--to your home?"

"Yes; I'm coming back here."

"Then we'll just say s'long."

"No. We must say good-bye."

She had not wished to say this in so many words. She had hoped he
would take the new situation for granted.

"When I come back you must look on me as--as Mr. Farnsworth does."

"That's nonsense."