'I know that, but you might tell me.'

'Please don't ask me, Cecil, I cannot tell you. Poor Sir Simon! I
owe him a great deal. Yes, don't laugh, Cecil, I really do. He
made me see what Life is, and what Death signifies, and why Love is
stronger than both.'

The Duke rose and kissed his wife lovingly.

'You can have your secret as long as I have your heart,' he
murmured.

'You have always had that, Cecil.'

'And you will tell our children some day, won't you?'

Virginia blushed.




THE SPHINX WITHOUT A SECRET




One afternoon I was sitting outside the Cafe de la Paix, watching
the splendour and shabbiness of Parisian life, and wondering over my
vermouth at the strange panorama of pride and poverty that was