to tell again."

"Why should I tell you?" said West, in his brief, unfriendly style.

Cynthia was undaunted. "Because you're a gentleman," she said boldly.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what reason I have given you to
say so."

"No?" She looked at him with a funny little smile. "Well then, I just
feel it in my bones; and nothing you do or leave undone will make me
believe the contrary."

"Much obliged to you," said West. His blue eyes were staring straight
out over the sea to the long, blue sky-line. He seemed too absorbed in
what he saw to pay much attention to the girl beside him.

But she was not to be shaken off. "Mr. West," she began again, breaking
in upon his silence, "do you know what they are saying about you
to-day?"

"Haven't an idea."

"No," she said. "And I don't suppose you care either. But I care. It
matters a lot to me."

"Don't see how," threw in West.

He turned in his abrupt, disconcerting way, and gave her a piercing
look. She averted her face instantly, but he had caught her unawares.