n.
"Ah," she cried, "you have missed the photographs. I was afraid of that,
but I couldn't get here sooner. I telephoned twice, but I could not reach
you. You know that I could not have dreamed of coming here, here to your
apartment except for the most urgent of reasons. Bobby"--she burst into
tears and clung to his arm--"it was I--I who stole your papers and
photographs."

"My dear," bending above her, "do not say such things." His voice
trembled. "If you borrowed my photographs you did it for some good
reason, for cause which seemed right and proper to you. That is enough
for me."

"Oh, Robert, Robert!" She was weeping now, her whole figure shaken with
sobs. "Your goodness, your sweetness overwhelms me. It is more than I can
bear. But, Bobby, you mustn't believe the worst things of me. I didn't
take them from the motives you may attribute to me."

"Dear Marcia," he said soothingly, "do not talk of motives. Whatever your
motives were, they were right. But you are going to tell me no more now.
You are going to sit down here and have a cup of tea, and rest quietly a
few moments before you attempt to tell me anything more. Here, you must
lay aside those heavy wraps."

He took her furs, he begged her to remove her hat, then occupied himself
for a moment in fussing over the fire and giving orders for hot tea, and
was rewarded presently by seeing that the color had returned to her lips
and cheeks, and that the frightened, strained expression had faded from
her eyes.

"There," he said, after Tatsu had brought in the tea things, and he had
poured some for her. "Two lumps of sugar, one slice of lemon. You see, I
remember your tastes."

She smiled gratefully at him. "Please, may I tell you all about it now?"
she asked.

His face fell again into the lines of dejection. In spite of the
cheerfulness he had forced himself to assume, and in spite of the
compassion he felt for her weakness, he would have postponed for ever
this confession which must condemn her.

"Why," he asked, "why not bury the incident in a wise oblivion, and never
mention it again? Indeed, indeed, it is better so. One of the best
mottoes in the world is, 'Never explain.'"

His lips smiled, but his eyes pleaded, and his heart passionately
protested:

Must we lose our Eden,
Eve and I?

[Illustration]

Her languor and weariness disappeared in a moment; she drew herself up
now, the pose of her head haughty, her eyes chill. "Never explain?" s