lf in Perry's eyes."

He watched with a sensation of pleasure the graceful shrug of her
shoulders under her shapeless coat.

"Oh, there's no chance of that," she assured him; "he is always in them
himself?"

The vague curiosity in his thoughts took form suddenly in words.
"Where's he now, by the way, do you know?"

Her musical, empty laugh was as perfect as the indifferent glance she
gave him. "Enjoying himself, I hope," she answered. "He hung around me
until I sent him out in the sheer desperation of weariness."

Though her lashes did not quiver, he knew not only that she lied, but
that she was perfectly aware of the assurance and extent of his
knowledge. The hopeless gallantry of her deception appealed to the
fighting spirit in his blood, and he found himself wondering foolishly
if Laura could have played with so high an air the part of a neglected
wife. To a man of his peculiarly eager temperament there existed a
curious fascination in the idea of pushing to its limit of endurance an
unalterable constancy. Would Laura have uttered her futile lies with so
exquisite an insolence? or would she have acted in tears the patient
Griselda in her closet? The virtue of truthfulness was the one he had
most nearly associated with her, and it seemed to him impossible that
she should stoop to shield herself behind a falsehood. Yet he could not
dispel his curiosity as to how she would act in circumstances which he
felt to be impossible and purely imaginary.

He wanted to speak of her to Gerty, but a restraint that was almost
embarrassment kept him silent, and Gerty herself could not be induced to
abandon her flippant satirical tone. So Laura was not mentioned between
them; and he felt when at last he brought Gerty to her door again that,
on the whole, the drive had been a disappointment. He had meant to seek
her sympathy with his love for her friend, and instead he had been met
by a fine, exquisite edge of cutting humour. For once he had felt the
need to be wholly in earnest, and Gerty had taken nothing seriously,
least of all the hint which he had dropped concerning the ultimate
stability of his emotion. If she had got her heartache from his sex, he
saw clearly that she meant to have her laugh on it as well; and the only
remark from which she had let fall even momentarily her gay derision was
in answer to some phrase of his in which had occurred the name of Roger
Adams.

"Roger Adams!" she had echoed with a fleeting earnes