"Hughie," she said softly, "does it hurt much?"
"I don't quite know yet," said Hughie.
"I mean, are you sad or angry—which? It usually takes a man one way or the other," observed this experienced damsel.
"I don't know that I'm either," said Hughie meditatively; "the only feeling that I have just now is that I'm desperately sorry. But I'm not kicking."
"It is my belief," remarked Miss Gaymer with sudden and pardonable asperity, "that you don't care for me in the least. Do you, now?"
They were a very honest and sincere couple, these. For a full minute they looked each other in the face, without speaking. Then Hughie said,—
"Joey, I simply don't know! I thought I did half an hour ago, and I'd have sworn it last night, when—"
He checked himself.
"When what?" asked Joan swiftly.
"Nothing," said Hughie. "That's rather beside the point now, isn't it?"