"The question is," said Reggie Ledyard excitedly, "are you a sport, Miss Nevers, or are you not? Kindly answer with appropriate gestures."
The girl stood with her golden head drooping, staring at the bit of paper in her hand; then, as Desboro watched her, she glanced up with that sudden, reckless smile which he had seen once before—the first day he met her—and made a gay little gesture of acceptance.
"You're not really going to do it, are you?" said Betty, incredulously. "You don't have to; they're every one of them short sports themselves!"
"I am not," said Jacqueline, smiling.
"But," argued Katharine Frere, "suppose Reggie should find you. You'd never marry him, would you?"
"Great Heavens!" shouted Ledyard. "She might have a worse fate. There's Desboro!"
"You don't really mean it, do you, Miss Nevers?" asked Captain Herrendene.
"Yes, I do," said Jacqueline. "I always was a gambler by nature."
The tint of excitement was bright on her cheeks; she shot a daring glance at Ledyard, looked at Van Alstyne and laughed, but her back remained turned toward Desboro.