oor and sharply pulled herself
together. "How I detest him!" she thought to herself.

"Hello, Ethel." His voice from the hallway had a gruff and tired sound;
but a moment later when he came in, it was with his usual friendly
smile. "Sorry I kept you waiting. I've had a mean day at the office."

"So have I," said Ethel, and with a frown she plunged right in. The
sooner this was over the better. But when she had finished and looked
up, she detected no triumph on his face. He was watching her so
queerly.

"Well," he said, "I ought to be sorry, I suppose--but I can't exactly
say I am."

"Why not?" At her sharp challenge he grimly smiled.

"Because this kind of puts us--in the same boat--two of a kind."

"What on earth do you mean?" she demanded. And then with a rueful
grimace he said:

"Because I too have bumped my head." As at that she felt a swift little
thrill of surprise and liking for Joe, he continued, "I've been a fool.
You're always a fool when you take a chance and aren't able to get away
with it. You're a fool--because you missed out. I'm a fool--because I
missed out. We both of us took chances. And I got very badly stung.
We've got to be poor for a little while." Joe drew a deep breath and
smiled again. "I've dreaded this. I've put off telling you for a
week--I don't like eating humble pie. But it's all right now, God bless
you--we can eat it side by side."

"Why, Joe, dear, how nice!" she sighed. "Go on and tell me. What will
it mean?" He held up his hand.

"Hold on a minute, can't you? Let me make my little speech. I've made
it so many times in my mind."

"All right, you poor dear, just start right in."

"Well," said Joe, "it begins like this." And his face grew a little
portentous, with humour and a deeper feeling mingled awkwardly together.
"You've been about as good to me as one fellow could be to another. I
know what a hell it must have been, and the stiff upper lip was all on
your side. I don't want to talk about it, but--when Amy died the life
went out--of my business too. Later I got back my nerve, and because my
job was all I had left I tried to make it more worth while. I've got a
few old dreams in me--I mean I've always wanted to build something
better than flats in the Bronx. So I--well, I took a chance and failed.
I'm in debt and my only chance to scrape through is to cut down here as
low as we can. I've figured out our expenses, and--"

He walked for a moment. She quickly rose, went