Sophie nodded. "He's been spoiled. But back of it all he's a man. His lightness is on the surface. I know, for he was in Berlin when my husband was living. I saw the other side then. He was poor; it was before he came so unexpectedly into his uncle's money. You know the old man and his son were drowned in a dreadful accident. Justin was studying aviation when we first knew him. He lived in shabby rooms, and ate at shabby little places, and he used to come in the afternoons to call on me, and I'd fill him up with thick bread and butter and coffee, and we'd talk for hours of America. He was lonely poor lad, and I was like a big sister. I shall never forget one bitter cold afternoon, when he came in with his hands all red and rough, and with a hoarse cough, and I had the maid bring him a bowl of soup hot from the kitchen, and he tried to make a joke of it, but his voice broke, and presently he said, 'Dear big sister, some day I can thank you, but not now.' "And when my husband died," she went on, softly, "he did thank me in a most generous way. He had just received his fortune when he heard of my--trouble. He sent a wonderful cross to mark where my husband sleeps--and I could have afforded only a little stone--and there are flowers every week, even when I am far away, and there will always be flowers because of his great generosity." Here was a background for the light-hearted young Justin which appealed to Bettina's imagination. "Why, how lovely," she said with her eyes shining; "he didn't seem like that to me. He seemed so--shallow." "But he isn't," Sophie defended; "if it had not been for him and for Diana I should have lost heart many times--the world knows Justin as a rich young man, ready for a good time, but I know him as the Knight of the Tender Heart." "How old is he?" "Twenty-six. I didn't realize until I reached here that he was flying again. He does such dangerous things. I saw the aeroplane yesterday morning, and found out afterward that he was up--and since then my heart seems to stop every time I think of him in the air----" With all the optimism of youth, Bettina tried to reassure her. "He said last night that he was very careful. He wants to take me up." "Oh, don't ever do anything so dreadful." "I couldn't if I wanted to. Anthony made me promise last night that I wouldn't----" She said it with a comfortable sense of her lover's care for her; "I'd rather ride any day with Anthony in his little car." "My dear," Sophie said with some hesitation, "I'm going to suggest that except to Diana and myself, you try not to seem too much interested in--your doctor--the world might suspect--and you don't want to announce your engagement yet, Diana tells me----"