He had laughed at his way of putting it, but Fleda remained grave. "Is that what you came to say to her?" "And you don't really think it's fair, do you? You don't!" He spoke very quickly; he really seemed to plead.!

CHAPTER XII "So as not to aggravate Mona, naturally. We've had a narrow course to steer, but thank God we're at last in the open!"

Fleda hesitated a moment; after which she exclaimed with a certain hard pride: "He's enough in love with me for anything!" Fleda winced at what he knew; she made a wild gesture which seemed to whirl it out of the room. The mere allusion was like another embrace. "You know nothing—and you must go and wait! You mustn't break down at this point." "She knows how awfully kind you've been to me," Owen said. He showed such discomfiture that he really gave away their situation; and Fleda found herself divided between the hope that he would take leave and the wish that he should see the whole of what the occasion might enable her to bring to pass for him.