West let the palm spring back from his hand. He tried to look serious. “I should be the last man in the world to blame you for anything, Mrs. Briggs,” he said, softly. “I admire you too much as you are.”
Helen took her fan from her lap. He could see that her face had flushed. “Aren’t we complimentary to-night!” she said, with a smile. “Do you often say things like that?”
“No. I’m not much of a hand at paying compliments.” West leaned back and took a long breath. “Besides, it would be very hard to pay compliments to a woman like you.” He leaned forward and allowed both his hands to fall to his knees. “Do you know why?” he went on. “Because you are one of the few women I’ve met whom I really respect. I pay you the compliment,” he laughed, “of telling you nothing but the truth.”
“That’s the best compliment any woman could be paid, isn’t it?” said Helen, fanning herself nervously.
West leaned toward her. “But there are some things I have never quite dared to tell you,” he remarked, in a low voice and with a smiling lift of the eyebrows. “I’ve never dared, because—well, perhaps they would be too interesting. There are some things, you know, that it’s very hard for a man to say to a woman, especially to a woman like you.”
“They are usually the things that are better left unsaid, aren’t they?” Helen remarked, quietly.
“Perhaps.” He spoke slowly, as if trying to keep his voice steady. “But sometimes it is almost as hard not to say them. It isn’t always necessary to put them into words, you know. They say themselves in a thousand ways—in a look, a tone of the voice, in the lightest touch of the hand.”
Helen sat suddenly upright. “You are in a very sentimental mood to-night, aren’t you, Mr. West? I’m prepared to receive all kinds of confidences.” Her assumption of gayety was betrayed by the expression of her eyes.
“I was going to tell you something,” West acknowledged. “I think I will tell you. I’m in love. I’m in love with the most fascinating woman in Washington.”
“We all know who that is,” said Helen, smiling. “But aren’t you afraid of the Senator? They say he’s a wonderful shot.”