He released her hand. ``AN answer,'' he said, ``but not the
correct answer.'' He eyed her thoughtfully. ``You have done me
a great service,'' he went on. ``You have shown me an
unsuspected, a dangerous weakness in myself. At another
time--and coming in another way, I might have made a mess of my
career--and of the things that have been entrusted to me.'' A
long pause, then he added, to himself rather than to her, ``I
must look out for that. I must do something about it.''

Jane turned toward him and settled herself in a resolute attitude
and with a resolute expression. ``Victor,'' she said, ``I've
listened to you very patiently. Now I want you to listen to me.
What is the truth about us? Why, that we are as if we had been
made for each other. I don't know as much as you do. I've led a
much narrower life. I've been absurdly mis- educated. But as
soon as I saw you I felt that I had found the man I was looking
for. And I believe--I feel--I KNOW you were drawn to me in the
same way. Isn't that so?''

``You--fascinated me,'' confessed he. ``You--or your clothes--or
your perfume.''

``Explain it as you like,'' said she. ``The fact remains that we
were drawn together. Well--Victor, _I_ am not afraid to face the
future, as fate maps it out for us. Are you?''

He did not answer.

``You--AFRAID,'' she went on. ``No--you couldn't be afraid.''