Part 112

"Not to-night, Jarvis, I'm too tired."

"Yes, to-night, before another hour passes. Sit down there, please."

She obeyed, curiously.

"Do you remember Christmas Eve, when I came home?"

"Yes."

"Did you notice anything different about me?"

"How, different?"

"Did it occur to you that I cared about you, for the first time?"

"I--I--suspicioned it a little."

"Then you deliberately ignored it because you did not want my love?"

"I--I--didn't mean to ignore it."

"But you did."

"I wasn't sure; you never spoke of it, never said you cared. After that first night I thought I must have been mistaken."

"But you were glad to be mistaken?"

"No. I was sorry," she said, softly.

"What?" sharply.

"I wanted your love, Jarvis."

"You can't mean that."

"But I do!"

"But, Strong--you love Strong----"

She rose quickly, her face flushed.

"I love Richard Strong as my friend, and in no other way."

"Certainly he loves you."

"He has never told me so."

"You let me believe you cared for him; you tortured me with your show of preference for him."

"You imagined that, Jarvis. It is not true!"

"It is true!" he cried, passionately. "I came to you, eager for your love, wanting you as I had never wanted anything. You flaunted this man in my face, you shut me out, you drove me back on myself----"

"Well?"