"You know well enough that you have been trying your very best to avoid
me."

"I think you are mistaken. I seldom try to avoid any one, and I see no
reason why I should try to avoid you. Do you know of any reason?"

The young lady blushed and looked down at her book, whose leaves she
again began to turn.

"I thought," she said at last, "that you might have some feeling against
me, and I have no doubt you judge me very harshly. You never _did_ make
any allowances."

Morris gave a little laugh that was half a sneer.

"Allowances?" he said.

"Yes, allowances. You know you always were harsh with me, George,
always." And as she looked up at him her blue eyes were filled with
tears, and there was a quiver at the corner of her mouth. "What a
splendid actress you would make, Blanche," said the young man, calling
her by her name for the first time.

She gave him a quick look as he did so. "Actress!" she cried. "No one
was ever less an actress than I am, and you know that."

"Oh, well, what's the use of us talking? It's all right. We made a
little mistake, that's all, and people often make mistakes in this life,
don't they, Blanche?"