"Oh, so that was your reason," interrupted Kate.
"And in the second place," pursued Noel, calmly ignoring the interruption, "she is in love with--"
"With whom?" exploded Kate, gripping his arm.
"Why, with La Grange! Did you never notice them together last spring, and then the way she speaks of him?"
Kate let her own love-affair slip from her mind, while she thought rapidly for a few minutes.
"I believe you are right," she said, slowly, "but I can tell you something more. They are not engaged. Something is separating them."
"I think so, too. Possibly Carolina is holding off. I've noticed that girls have a way of doing that."
Kate's face crimsoned. She afterward told Carolina that, if Noel had caught her laughing, he would have known all.
But her obstinate silence left it to Noel to continue.
"Kate," he said, finally, "when you get through playing with me, will you begin to take me seriously? I'm tired of your game. Now don't pretend that you haven't been baiting me."