[Illustration: "'How perfectly horrid you can be!' she exclaimed.">[
She laughed merrily, raised herself on one arm, and looked him straight in the eyes:
"Louis!"
"What?"
"Do you doubt me?"
"Doubt what?"
"That my friendship for you is as warm as the moment it began?"
He said, unsmiling: "People meet as we met, become friends—very good, very close friends—in that sort of friendship which is governed by chance and environment. The hazard that throws two people into each other's company is the same hazard that separates them. It is not significant either way…. I liked you—missed you…. Our companionship had been pleasant."
"Very," she said, quietly.
He nodded: "Then chance became busy; your duties led you elsewhere—mine set me adrift in channels once familiar—"