"Thanks; I don't trust your whims."
For all reply, he took her hand and again placed the ring on it.
"Wear it," he said.
She turned the stone quickly inside her palm as though unable to endure its lure, and looked at him profoundly.
"Are you going to pull through?" she said angrily.
"Will it make a difference?" he asked, rising, with a quick glance at his watch.
She rose in her turn, facing him with a sudden energy.
"Do you know the one great mistake you have made?"
"What?"
"You have condemned yourself to success."