"I think he would like to hear that. You see, it's the first real sacrifice he ever undertook."
"It may be the making of him."
"Perhaps."
"He'll always have her before him as an ideal. When you come in touch with such a woman as she—you can't lose, Covington, no matter how things turn out."
"I 'll tell him that too."
"It's what I tell myself over and over again. To-day—well, I had an idea there must be some one in the background of her life I did n't know about."
"You 'd better get that out of your head. This man is n't even in the background, Noyes."
"I 'm not so sure. I thought she seemed worried. I tried to make her tell me, but she only laughed. She'd face death with a smile, that woman. I got to thinking about it in my room, and that's why I came down here to you. You've seen more of her these last few months than I have."
"Not months; only weeks."
"And this other—I don't want to pry into her affairs, but we're all just looking to her happiness, are n't we?"