bounder," he said.

She smiled a little. "I know you do. But you are prejudiced. I can't give
up an old friend--even for you, Dick."

He squeezed her hand. "Have you got many friends like that, Juliet?"

She flushed. "No. He is the only one I have, and--"

"And?" he said, as she stopped.

She laid her cheek with a very loving gesture against his shoulder.
"Ah, don't throw stones!" she pleaded gently. "There are so few of us
without sin."

His arm was about her in a moment, all his hardness vanished. "My own
girl!" he said.

She held his hand in both her own. "Do you know--sometimes--I lie awake
at night and wonder--and wonder--whether you would have thought of
me--if you had known me in the old days?"

"Is that it?" he said very tenderly. "And you thought I was sleeping like
a hog and didn't know?"

She laughed rather tremulously, her face turned from him. "It isn't
always possible to bury the past, is it, however hard we try? I hope
you'll make allowances for that, Dick, if ever I shock your sense of
propriety."