"I tried to," replied Alicia. "I saw George Norman, and I did my best--my very best. But he wouldn't promise anything. He only laughed and tried to kiss me."
"Tried to kiss you!" echoed Merriam, naïvely aghast.
"Yes," said Alicia, with her eyes demurely on the rose between her fingers.
And John Merriam, looking at her, grasped clearly the possibility that a "boy senator" with whom Alicia had done her very best might try to kiss her.
"So that is one reason why I am in it to the death," Alicia went on, "because George Norman--wouldn't listen to me. And I don't want Philip to fail."
She laid one hand quickly over one of Merriam's hands, startling him so that he nearly drew his away. "I love him," she said, and her eyes shone effulgently into Merriam's. "He hasn't much money, and he is hard and--and conceited, but he is courageous. He dares anything. He dared to take me on that street-car ride. He would dare to burst in on the Senator and Mayor Black to-night. He dares think up this plan. A woman loves a Man."
There is no doubt that Alicia pronounced "man" with a capital letter, and she looked challengingly at Merriam.
"We are to be married next month," she added.
"Oh!" gasped Merriam, his eyes staring in spite of himself at her hand that lay on his.
The hand flew away as quickly as it had alighted, but he still felt its soft coolness on his fingers as she said: