"Well, in bringing me his troubles. That always makes a conquest of any woman, you know. And in letting me take my troubles to him. A woman always _has_ to take a trouble to a man, Jack, when all is said and done--even if he is only the family solicitor!" she concluded hurriedly. She had suddenly skated on to thin ice, and she knew it. The man to whom she should have taken her troubles had not been there to receive them. "So Jim Carthew has his troubles like the rest of us?" said Juggernaut. "Yes, and I never suspected how he felt about them," said Daphne. "He is fearfully reserved about the things he really feels, although he babbles enough about the things he doesn't. So, when I was in trouble----" "What was your trouble?" "I was lonely," said the girl. Juggernaut drew his breath sharply. "I am glad you had some one to be kind to you," he said. Then came a long pause--the sort of pause which either brings a discussion to an end or begets another, longer and more intimate. We all know them. Finally Daphne braced herself. "Jack," she said, "I want to say something more. I didn't mean to: I have said all I came here to say. But I must say this too--now or never. I--I--I was wrong to marry you, Jack. I didn't love you, but I thought it didn't matter. I felt how divine it would be to be able to help the boys and Dad. That was all I considered. Then, when I began to go about, and meet new people, and make comparisons, I--found myself criticising you! _Me--you!_" "I wouldn't be too indignant about it if I were you," said her husband. He reached out deliberately for her hand, and continued his contemplation of the fire. "Go on," he said. Daphne, foolishly uplifted, continued-- "I used to think you rough and hard and unsympathetic. I began to prefer the men who buzzed round and murmured things in my ear. And when people began to pity me as a neglected wife, I--I encouraged them. I let women say catty things about you, and I let men make love to me. That sort of thing has been going on ever since the time"--Daphne's grip of her husband's hand tightened--"when you and I decided--to go our own ways. I don't mind telling you now that it was a pill for me, Jack. My pride----" "It was a brutal act on my part," blazed out Juggernaut with sudden passion. "No it _wasn't_: it was what I deserved!" insisted Daphne, whose nature did not permit her to be repentant by halves. "Well, anyhow, I determined to flirt in real earnest now. So I began to carry on in an experimental fashion. But I can't say it was much fun. Finally I did fall in love with a man, in a sort of way--don't hurt my hand, dear; it was only in a sort of way--and I let him see it. Well, I got a facer over _him_. One night, under the moon, I tried to flirt with him; and he--well, Jack, he fairly put me in my place!" "What did he do?" "He made me feel ashamed of myself." "What did he say?" "Not much that we need talk of now, except one thing." "What was that?"