to whom I have been introduced by the other girls have been very
few, and they have not been very nice, and they have not cared for
me and I have not cared for them. I think," she said, disconsolately,
"I am too small. Every one to-day seems to like big women. Cora
Sinclair, who is just behind me in the chorus, gets bouquets every
night, and simply chooses with whom she should go out to supper."

Laverick looked grave.

"You are not envying her?" he asked.

"Not in the least, as long as I too am taken out sometimes."

Laverick smiled and sat on the arm of her chair.

"Miss Zoe," he said, "I have come because you told me to, just to
prove, you see, that I am not in the toils of Mademoiselle Idiale.
But do you know that it is half past one? I must not stay here any
longer."

She sighed once more.

"You are right," she admitted, "but it is so lonely. I have never
been here without May and her mother. I have never slept alone in
the house before the other night. If I had known that they were
going away, I should never have dared to come here."

"It is too bad," he declared. "Couldn't you get one of the other
girls to stay with you?"