flirted a little at one time. Women have spoiled him a lot. But--but he
_does_ love me, Lisa."

"And he did love Maxine!" I laughed.

"He didn't. He never loved her. I--you see, you put such horrid thoughts
into my head that--that I just mentioned her name when he said
to-night--oh, when he said the usual things, about never having cared
seriously for anyone until he saw me. Only--it seems treacherous to call
them '_usual_' because--when you love a man you feel that the things he
says can never have been said before, in the same way, by any other man
to any other woman."

"Only perhaps by the same man to another woman," I mocked at her, trying
to act as if I were teasing in fun.

"Lisa, you _can_ be hateful sometimes!" she cried.

"It's only for your good, if I'm hateful now," I said. "I don't want to
have you disappointed, when it's too late. I want you to keep your eyes
open, and see exactly where you're going. It's the truest thing ever
said that 'love is blind.' You can't deny that you're in love with Ivor
Dundas."

"I don't deny it," she answered, with a proud air which would, I
suppose, have made Ivor want to kiss her.

"And you didn't deny it to him?"

"No, I didn't. But thanks to you, I put him upon a kind of probation. I