desirable to me. I am stronger than you, older; man to your woman. To

find YOU too--conventional!"

She looked at him over her shoulder, and he noticed with a twinge of

delight how her little chin came out beneath the curve of her cheek.

"MAN!" she said. "Man to MY woman! Do MEN lie? Would a MAN use his five

and thirty years' experience to outwit a girl of seventeen? Man to my

woman indeed! That surely is the last insult!"

"Your repartee is admirable, Jessie. I should say they do, though--all

that and more also when their hearts were set on such a girl as

yourself. For God's sake drop this shrewishness! Why should you be

so--difficult to me? Here am I with MY reputation, MY career, at your

feet. Look here, Jessie--on my honour, I will marry you--"

"God forbid," she said, so promptly that she never learnt he had a wife,

even then. It occurred to him then for the first time, in the flash of

her retort, that she did not know he was married.

"'Tis only a pre-nuptial settlement," he said, following that hint.

He paused.

You must be sensible. The thing's your own doing. Come out on the beach

now the beach here is splendid, and the moon will soon be high."

The Wheels of Chance