cause I have the
duplicate of that photo. She told me she'd had it taken for me, and the
negative destroyed. I considered it sacred. I would have shown it to
nobody."

"I am nobody," said I, "nobody except Captain March's friend, to whom he
tells things he wouldn't tell to others. He had the best of reasons to
believe I was in Diana's confidence, as well as his. And as for the
photograph, it's as sacred to him as it could be to you, Major Vandyke.
You might realize that from the clever way he has thought of to hide it;
and no person who wasn't absolutely _prying_ could have recognized it in
passing by his tent. He knew that very well, or he wouldn't have
uncovered the picture for even a second."

"If you were a man, you wouldn't dare say such a thing as that to me,
Lady Peggy."

"Oh, yes, I would," I retorted, "if I were nearly as big as you. I'm
Captain March's friend, not yours; and I'm not a bit afraid to be your
enemy if you are his."

"You are more loyal to your friend than to your own flesh and blood," he
flung at me. "If you say your sister did give that photograph to March,
you make her out a liar. But I won't believe it of her. I prefer to
believe it of March instead."

"'Liar' is a strong word," I temporized. "I was always taught that it
was very rude, too. You're a flirt, Major Vandyke! Every one says that
of you, and I believe you're proud of it. So you ought to have some
sympathy with a fellow flirt, like Di. If any one must be blamed, of
course it's she, not Captain March. He has as much right to accept a
photograph from a girl as you have. But you needn't be too angry with
Di, if she made you believe that you were the only one, when she was
doing the same thing with Captain March. Probably she didn't 'lie' to
either of you in so many words."

"It's not necessary for you to defend Lady Diana to me, I assure you,"
returned Major Vandyke. "Whatever she may have done, I'm ready to
forgive her, if she's willing to stand by me. But I won't have March
swaggering around and boasting that she gives him special favours."

"If I were a man _you_ wouldn't dare say _that_!" I burst out. "When you
talk about 'boasting,' or 'swaggering,' you must be judging him by
yourself, for you are always doing both, he never. I believe Di likes
him better than she does you, because he's a sort of popular hero with
his flying, and you have nothing except your flirting and your fortune
to recommend you to a girl."

If only