personally; I felt a desire to further our acquaintance and--well, your
story aroused my interest."

"Is that all?"

"It might have been had not you chosen methods of procedure which led me
to other thoughts."

She laughed.

"Oh, I see! All this has happened because I introduced you to the others
as my fiancé. Why, that is positively funny. Didn't you know that was
only a part of the game being played?"

"Yes," he said, ignoring the humour of it, and feeling oddly sober, "I
understood, and was playing, the same as you. Only both of us, I think,
forget an important fact."

"What, please?"

"That we were young, socially on a level, and that you were an
exceedingly charming young woman."

She laughed again, yet this time with more restraint.

"That is quite ridiculous, Captain West. Surely, you are not actually
making love to me?"

"No, I am not. I am merely facing the situation very frankly. It would be
useless for me to claim lack of interest in you. From our very first