She lifted her eyes questioningly, and for the first time he looked
directly down into their unveiled depths.

"Then I must certainly make confession. What if I should say, I merely
accepted the lesser of two evils--in short, preferred your company to
something I considered infinitely worse?"

"You refer to Mooney?"

She nodded, her dark eyes once again shadowed, her cheeks slightly
reddening beneath his steady gaze.

"Why, I can scarcely feel greatly flattered at being made the subject
of such a choice," Winston acknowledged with frankness. "The very
conception brings me uneasiness in fear lest my presence may be
unwelcome now that Mooney has been safely left behind. Yet it yields
me boldness also, and I venture to ask Miss Norvell what she would
probably have answered had Mooney been left out of the problem
entirely?"

His low voice held a ring of subdued earnestness, and the face of the
woman as quickly lost its smile. An instant she hesitated, her eyes
downcast, fully conscious he was anxiously searching her countenance
for the exact truth.

"And under those conditions," she responded finally, "Miss Norvell
would very probably have answered yes, only it would have been more
deliberately uttered, so that you should have realized the measure of
her condescension."