“Oh, well, it isn't very much of a blot, and I can easily wipe it off. I'll tell you what, Alice! I can write to Mrs. Frobisher, when our engagement comes out, and tell her how it was. She'll enjoy the joke, and so will Miss Wrayne. They're jolly and easygoing; they won't mind.” “How long have you known them?” “I met them on Class Day, and then I saw them--the day after I left Campobello.” Dan laughed a little. “How, saw them?” “Well, I went to a yacht race with them. I happened to meet them in the street, and they wanted me to go; and I was all broken up, and--I Went.” “Oh!” said Alice. “The day after I--you left Campobello?” “Well--yes.” “And I was thinking of you all that day as--And I couldn't bear to look at anybody that day, or speak!” “Well, the fact is, I--I was distracted, and I didn't know what I was doing. I was desperate; I didn't care.” “How did you find out about the yacht race?” “Boardman told me. Boardman was there.” “Did he know the ladies? Did he go too?” “No. He was there to report the race for the Events. He went on the press boat.” “Oh!” said Alice. “Was there a large party?” “No, no. Not very. Just ourselves, in fact. They were awfully kind. And they made me go home to dinner with them.” “They must have been rather peculiar people,” said Alice. “And I don't see how--so soon--” She could not realise that Mavering was then a rejected man, on whom she had voluntarily renounced all claim. A retroactive resentment which she could not control possessed her with the wish to punish those bold women for being agreeable to one who had since become everything to her, though then he was ostensibly nothing. In a vague way, Dan felt her displeasure with that passage of his history, but no man could have fully imagined it. “I couldn't tell half the time what I was saying or eating. I talked at random and ate at random. I guess they thought something was wrong; they asked me who was at Campobello.” “Indeed!” “But you may be sure I didn't give myself away. I was awfully broken up,” he concluded inconsequently. She liked his being broken up, but she did not like the rest. She would not press the question further now. She only said rather gravely, “If it's such a short acquaintance, can you write to them in that familiar way?” “Oh yes! Mrs. Frobisher is one of that kind.” Alice was silent a moment before she said, “I think you'd better not write. Let it go,” she sighed. “Yes, that's what I think,” said Dan. “Better let it go. I guess it will explain itself in the course of time. But I don't want any blots around.” He leaned over and looked her smilingly in the face.