strange new Cherries that the past bewildering week had shown him,
when she answered passionately:

"Oh, Peter--Peter--if I did not!"

He tightened his fingers about her own, but did not answer, and it
was presently Cherry who broke the brooding, misty silence again.

"What shall we do?" she asked, in a small, tired voice.

Peter abruptly got to his feet, took a chair three feet away, and
with a quick gesture of his hand and toss of his head, flung back
his hair.

"There is only one thing to do, of course!" he said, decidedly, in
a voice almost unrecognizably grim. "We mustn't see each other--we
mustn't see each other! Now--now I must think how best to manage
that!"

Her eyes, heavy with pain, were raised to meet his, and she saw
his mouth weaken with a sudden misgiving, and she saw him try to
steady it, and look down.

"I can--I shall tell Alix that this new business needs me in town
for two or three nights," he said, forcing himself to quiet
speech, but with one fine hand propping his forehead as if it
ached. "I'll stay at the club."

"And as soon as I can go," Cherry added, feverishly, "I shall join
Martin. I suppose Alix would think it was perfectly idiotic for me