itself round that little ring.'

'Are you afraid of it?'

'Afraid!' her grey glove rested for an instant upon the back of his
hand. 'I COULDN'T be afraid of anything if you were with me. It is
really extraordinary, for by nature I am so easily frightened. But
if I were with you in a railway accident or anywhere, it would be
just the same. You see I become for the time part of you, as it
were, and you are brave enough for two.'

'I don't profess to be so brave as all that,' said Frank. 'I expect
I have as many nerves as my neighbours.'

Maude's grey toque nodded up and down. 'I know all about that,' said
she.

'You have such a false idea of me. It makes me happy at the time and
miserable afterwards, for I feel such a rank impostor. You imagine
me to be a hero, and a genius, and all sorts of things, while I KNOW
that I am about as ordinary a young fellow as walks the streets of
London, and no more worthy of you than--well, than any one else is.'

She laughed with shining eyes.

'I like to hear you talk like that,' said she. 'That is just what is
so beautiful about you.'

It is hopeless to prove that you are not a hero when your disclaimers
are themselves taken as a proof of heroism. Frank shrugged his