, Peggy?"

"I really can't see why it should concern you," said Margaret,

sweetly, "but since you ask--I do. You couldn't expect me to remain

inconsolable forever, you know."

Then the room blurred before her eyes. She stood rigid, defiant.

She was dimly aware that Billy was speaking, speaking from a great

distance, it seemed, and then after a century or two his face came

back to her out of the whirl of things. And, though she did not know

it, they were smiling bravely at one another.

"--and so," Mr. Woods was stating, "I've been an even greater ass than