You must think me a fool."

"I know you are unhappy," replied Virginia, gently. "I am truly sorry
for that."

"Are you? Are you, indeed?" he cried. "Unhappiness is worth such pity
as yours." He brooded for a moment, then threw his hands out with what
might have been a gesture of desperate indifference. Suddenly his mood
changed in the whimsical, bewildering fashion of the man. "Ah, a star
shoots!" he exclaimed, gayly. "That means a kiss!"

Still laughing, he attempted to draw her to him. Angry, mortified,
outraged, she fought herself free and leaped to her feet.

"Oh!" she cried, in insulted anger.

"Oh!" she cried, in a red shame.

"_Oh!_" she cried, in sorrow.

Her calm broke. She burst into the violent sobbing of a child, and
turned and ran hurriedly to the factory.

Ned Trent stared after her a minute from beneath scowling brows. He
stamped his moccasined foot impatiently.

"Like a rat in a trap!" he jeered at himself. "Like a rat in a trap,
Ned Trent! The fates are drawing around you close. You need just one
little thing, and you cannot get it. Bribery is useless! Force is
useless! Craft is useless! This afternoon I thought I saw another