"She's always laughing at everything, and everybody, too," went on Miss Devereux.
"She's welcome to laugh at me," said Peter. "I enjoy it."
"Ladies don't. She'd never do for a permanence with Mme. Nadine. Clients wouldn't stand being grinned at by models."
"I don't laugh at people. I laugh at the world," the model defended herself.
"Why?" inquired Peter, with a straight look at the queer, arresting face.
"To keep it from laughing at me first. And to make it laugh with me—if I can."
"Do you think you can?"
"I shall try hard—against the biggest odds. And whatever it does to me, I shan't cry."
"I shouldn't wonder if that wasn't the whole secret of life!" said Peter Rolls, continuing to look at the face.
Suddenly it flashed a smile at him. "Shouldn't you? Give me the Balm of Gilead, and the rest would be easy!"