leave us soon, of course. The best ones always do. His work is
very popular. So is he."

"I never heard of him," repeated Griswold. Then, with sudden heat, he
added savagely: "But I mean to to-night."

When Griswold had first persuaded Aline Proctor to engage herself to
him he had suggested that, to avoid embarrassment, she should tell him
the names of the other men to whom she had been engaged.

"What kind of embarrassment would that avoid?"

"If I am talking to a man," said Griswold, "and he knows the woman I'm
going to marry was engaged to him and I don't know that, he has me at a
disadvantage."

"I don't see that he has," said Aline. "If we suppose, for the sake of
argument, that to marry me is desirable, I would say that the man who
was going to marry me had the advantage over the one I had declined to
marry."

"I want to know who those men are," explained Griswold, "because I want
to avoid them. I don't want to talk to them. I don't want even to
know them."

"I don't see how I can help you," said Aline. "I haven't the slightest
objection to telling you the names of the men I have cared for, if I
can remember them, but I certainly do not intend to tell you the name
of any man who cared for me enough to ask me to marry him. That's his
secret, not mine--certainly not yours."

Griswold thought he was very proud. He really was very vain; and as
jealousy is only vanity in its nastiest development he was extremely
jealous. So he persisted.

"Will you do this?" he demanded. "If I ever ask you, 'Is that one of
the men you cared for?' will you tell me?"

"If you wish it," said Aline; "but I can't see any health in it. It
will only make you uncomfortable. So long as you know I have given you
the greatest and truest love I am capable of, why should you concern
yourself with my mistakes?"

"So that I can avoid meeting what you call your mistakes," said
Griswold--"and being friendly with them."

"I assure you," laughed Aline, "it wouldn't hurt you a bit to be as
friendly with them as they'd let you. Maybe they weren't as proud of
their families as you are, but they made up for that by being a darned
sight prouder of me!"

Later, undismayed by this and unashamed, on two occasions Griswold
actually did demand of Aline if a genial youth she had just greeted
joyfully was one of those for whom she once had cared.

And Aline had replied promptly and truthfully that he was. But in the
case of Charles