"And you are willing to sacrifice her to Hickson?"

"My dear Laura, I cannot prevent all the beautiful, dissatisfied women in
the world from marrying dull, kind-hearted young men who adore them."

Mrs. Ussher stared at him in baffled, unhappy silence, and in the pause,
the door quickly and silently opened and Christine herself entered. She
looked calm, almost Olympian, as she laid her hand on Laura's arm.

"Let me have just a word alone with Mr. Riatt," she said; and as Laura
precipitately left the room, Christine turned to Riatt with a reassuring
smile. "Don't be alarmed," she said. "Your most dangerous antagonist has
just gone. I've really come to rescue you." She sank into a chair. "How
exhausting scenes are. Let me have a cigarette, will you?"

She smoked a moment in silence, while he stood erect and alert by the
mantel-piece. At last, glancing up at him, she said:

"I suppose Laura was suggesting that you marry me?"

He nodded.

"Laura's a dear, but not always very wise. You see, she thinks we are
both so wonderful, she can't believe we wouldn't make each other happy.
And from her point of view, it is rather an obvious solution. You see,
she does not know about that paragon in the Middle West."

"She existed only in my imagination."