"Were you quite—indifferent?"

He didn't know how to answer.

"I was not," she said. "I was contented, and I thought continually about our friendship—except when what I was doing made me uneasy about—what I was doing.... Isn't it curious that a girl could do a thing like that and feel comfortable except when she remembered that a girl doesn't usually do a thing like that?"

He began to laugh, and she laughed, too.

She said: "Always my inclination has been, from a child, to explain things to myself. But I can't explain you, yet. You are very different, you know."

"Not a bit——"

"Yes, please. I've found that out.... Tell me, do you really mean to go today?"

"Yes, Karen, I do."

"Couldn't you stay?"

"I really couldn't."