of virile force. For a while he smoked in silence; then, with his eyes
still turned away from her, he asked in a changed voice.

"Tell me about your friend--she interests me."

"She interests you! Laura?"

"There's something in her that I like," he pursued, smiling at her
exclamation. "She looks human, natural, real. By Jove, she looks as if
she were capable of big emotions--as if, too, you could like her without
making love. She's something new."

Gerty's amazement was so sincere that she only stared at him, while her
red lips parted slightly in a breathless and perfectly unaffected
surprise. Something new! Her wonder faded slowly, and she told herself
that now at last she understood. So he was still what he had always
been--an impatient seeker after fresh sensations.

"I thought you were too much like Perry to care about her," she said.

His amused glance made the remark appear suddenly ridiculous. "I'm
different from Perry in one thing at least," he retorted. "You didn't
marry me."

"Well, I dare say it's a good thing you never gave me the chance," she
tossed back lightly. "I don't let Perry rave, you know, even over Laura.
Not that I'm unduly jealous, but that I'm easily bored."

"I can't imagine you jealous," he commented, keeping as usual close to
the intimate intention.