I dinna choose to tell."

"I'm not blushing," protested Mary, hotly. "And it is silly to talk that
way when everybody knows that Phil Tremont never cared anything for any
girl except Lloyd Sherman."

"Maybe not at one time," insisted Elise. "And neither did Lieutenant
Logan care about any girl but my beloved sister Allison at one time. I'm
not mentioning names, but you know very well that she's not the one he
is crazy about now. Just wait till fate brings you and Phil together
again. You'll probably meet him during the Christmas vacation if you go
to New York."

Mary made no answer, only thrust a knife under the edge of the candy in
the largest plate, as if her sole interest in life was testing its
hardness. Then she spread out several sheets of paraffine paper with a
great show of indifference. It had its effect on Elise, and she promptly
changed her target back to A.O. There was no fun in teasing when her
arrows made no impression.

Usually A.O. enjoyed it, but she had tangled herself in a web of her own
weaving lately, and for the last few days had been in terror lest Elise
should find her out. Inspired by the picture of the handsome young
lieutenant on Elise's desk, and not wanting to seem behind her room-mate
in romantic experiences, silly little A.O. had drawn on her imagination
for most of the confidences she gave in exchange. When Elise talked of
the lieutenant, A.O. talked of "Jimmy," adding this trait and that grace
until she had built up a beautiful ideal, but a being so different from
the original on which she based her tales, that Jimmy himself would
never have recognized her dashing hero as the bashful fellow he was