"I take myself as typical," she continued. "When I was twenty I could
have loved you. You were the type of man I did love."

Mr. Halliday, who had been supporting the weight of his body upon his
right leg, transferred the burden to his left.

"But now I'm thirty-five; and I couldn't love you if I tried." She shook
her curls at him. "It isn't your fault. It is that I have changed.
Suppose I'd married you?"

"Bit of bad luck for both of us," suggested Mr. Halliday.

"A tragedy," Miss Tolley corrected him. "There are millions of such
tragedies being enacted around us at this moment. Sensitive women
compelled to suffer the embraces of men that they have come to loathe.
What's to be done?"

Flossie, who had been hovering impatient, broke in.

"Oh, don't you believe her," she advised Mr. Halliday. "She loves you
still. She's only teasing you. This is Joan."

She introduced her. Miss Tolley bowed; and allowed herself to be drawn
away by a lank-haired young man who had likewise been waiting for an
opening. He represented the Uplift Film Association of Chicago, and was
wishful to know if Miss Tolley would consent to altering the last chapter
and so providing "Running Waters" with a happy ending. He pointed out
the hopelessness of it in its present form, for film purposes.

The discussion was brief. "Then I'll send your agent the contract to-