Then I foundered. I had almost said: "He doesn't care as much for
Ethel as I do for you."

Phyllis pretended not to note my embarrassment. The others came in
then, and conversation streamed into safer channels.

When we entered the box at the opera the curtain had risen. Phyllis
and I took the rear chairs. They were just out of the glare of the
lights.

"You are looking very beautiful to-night," I whispered lowly. I was
beginning business early. There was no barrier at my lips.

"Thank you," she replied. Then with a smile: "Supposing I were to say
that you are looking very handsome?"

"Oh," said I, somewhat disconcerted, "that would be rather
embarrassing."

"I do not doubt it."

"And then it would not be true. The duty we men owe to a beautiful
woman is constantly to keep telling her of it."

"And the duty we women owe to a fine-looking man?" a rogue of a dimple
in her cheeks.

"Is to explicitly believe all he says regarding your beauty," I
answered, evading the question. "A man may tell a woman that she is
beautiful, but a woman may not tell a man that he is fine-looking, that