is made for ordinary people. When people who amount to anything
meet they don't have to waste months in finding each other out.
It is only the doubtful ones who have to be tested again and
again. When I was a kid in the diamond mines in Kimberley, I
have seen the experts pick out a perfect diamond from the heap at
the first glance, and without a moment's hesitation. It was the
cheap stones they spent most of the afternoon over. Suppose I
HAVE only seen you to-night for the first time; suppose I
shall not see you again, which is quite likely, for I sail
tomorrow for South America--what of that? I am just as sure
of what you are as though I had known you for years.''

Miss Langham looked at him for a moment in silence. Her beauty
was so great that she could take her time to speak. She was not
afraid of losing any one's attention.

``And have you come out of the West, knowing me so well, just to
tell me that I am wasting myself?'' she said. ``Is that all?''

``That is all,'' answered Clay. ``You know the things I would
like to tell you,'' he added, looking at her closely.

``I think I like to be told the other things best,'' she said,
``they are the easier to believe.''

``You have to believe whatever I tell you,'' said Clay, smiling.
The girl pressed her hands together in her lap, and looked at him
curiously. The people about them were moving and making their
farewells, and they brought her back to the present with a start.