beautiful darlin', 'ow I adore you," ses e. "I'm not 'arf mad about
you." An' then 'e starts kissin' the photo until I thinks 'e'll crack
the glarss of the frame with 'is passion and 'ot breath.'

[Illustration: ''E was starin' at it wild-like.']

I stared at her, scarcely able to believe the evidence of my own ears.
Then, remembering that she is a girl greatly given to a maudlin kind of
sentiment, I was reassured. 'You have been mistaken,' I said with
quiet dignity. 'Mr. Rawlings is incapable of such a display as you
have just described. If, as you say, he was holding my photo in his
hand, it was, no doubt, for the purpose of using it as an ash-tray.'

'Never seen 'im use an ash-tray,' commented Elizabeth.

'Being in the drawing-room he might, for once, have had some qualms
about the carpet,' I explained. Under his rugged exterior he may have
a conscience. I rather doubt it myself, but one should never judge too
harshly.

'Arter 'earing 'im say that,' went on Elizabeth, 'I didn't like to let
'im see I'd been in the room all the time, an' I was just goin' to
creep out quiet when 'e starts talkin' to the photo again. "Marryun,"
'e ses, "if I carn't 'ave you I'll go away in the wilderness, or be an
'ermit in a cave, or go an' live in Tibbet, or give away every farthin'
I've got in the world." That's wot 'e sed, an' 'e looked so wild I was
fair scared, miss.'

I stared at Elizabeth, quite unable to speak a word. The whole thing
sounded so wildly improbable and yet she was obviously speaking the