happily married, and I looked at Ned and thought how wretched I'm always
going to be with him, and what silly things I shall undoubtedly do
before I die--"

"I hate to hear you talk like that."

"Why should you care? _She'll_ never do silly things--that's clear. Is
that why you love her?"

"As a matter of fact I am not in love with Miss Lane."

"My dear Max, there's really no reason why you should deceive me
about it."

"That's just what she said about you."

"You mean"--Christine sprang to her feet and gazed at him like an
outraged empress--"You mean that you told her that you didn't love me?"

"I most assuredly did."

"Max, how could you be so low, so despicable, so false?"

Riatt laughed. "Well, it certainly was not false, Christine," he said.
"It happens to be true, you know; and I felt I owed a measure of truth to
a very old and very real friendship. I told her nothing more than that--I
was engaged and not madly in love."

Christine threw up her hands. "The game is up," she said. "She'll tell
everybody, of course."