must be getting _dippy_!'"

And it was the first slang I had heard from those sweet lips since the
night she was in my rooms!

CHAPTER XXIX

"BECAUSE YOU--ARE YOU"

Poor, brave-hearted girl! How pitiful and heartrending to a keen-eyed
man of the world, seemed her poor, little sham about her father's trust
in her! For _I_ knew the facts, you know!

What a little thoroughbred she was! By Jove, I just sat there for a full
two minutes, bending toward her worshipfully, but with such a lump
choking my devilish throat that dash me if I could chirp a single word.
Just sat there--that's all--blinking damply at her with my free eye,
studying with growing wonder the light she managed to summon to her
face; heartsick for the care-free mockery of the cherry lips, shaping
seemingly in a meditative whistle; all my jolly heart beating time to
the lithesome tapping of her smart little boot upon the wooden floor.
And she? She, brave heart, leaning back watching me through her long,
fringing lashes--forcing a quizzical smile to her face, the while the
jolly worm was gnawing at her what-you-call-'ems!

And suddenly it came to me that I just couldn't and wouldn't let her go
on this way, without the sympathy of the man she loved; without the
precious consolation of knowing that he knew! She was being badgered and
rough-shouldered and put upon and distrusted and maligned by every one
she knew, and she had _no_ one in all the world to turn to but me--and--

Oh, I wanted her to know what _I_ thought, don't you know!

I slipped to the seat beside her.

"Er, Miss Billings--" I began, thinking absentmindedly of what I should
say, and forgetting that we were quite alone.

"'Miss Billings!' _Why_ do you call me that?" Her lovely brows puckered.
"I remember, now, that's twice you--"

"_Frances_, then!" I corrected softly.

She straightened, her bosom lifting with a quick intake. By Jove, that
was what she wanted!

"Oh!" Then she leaned slowly back, looking at me thoughtfully through
half-closed eyes, her lips parted in the oddest smile.

And I screwed my monocle tight and let her have smile for smile,
determined to chirp her up and make her feel our oneness--that sort of
thing, you know. And I succeeded! For of a sudden her head went back and
the joyous peal of her canary laugh started off the jolly birds in the
trees above us.

"Oh, you--" A stare, and then another burst as she bent forward, face
buried in her hands. Then