"Oh, of course. So many people... It's _nothing_ now, compared with what it used to be," Cassandra assented hurriedly. _That_ was the reason of the subtly appealing look which had puzzled her from her first meeting with this man! He had looked death in the face; had left the mimic playing at arms, to fight a hand-to-hand battle with that grim spectre through weary weeks and months. Such an experience could not fail to leave its mark, however resolutely it might be ignored. She was silent for some minutes, staring dreamily out of the window, while Dane in his turn studied her face, and wondered in masculine innocence why every woman did not wear chinchilla. "How do you take it when such blows come?" she asked slowly at last. "Do you rage or sulk? I suppose with ordinary human creatures it comes down to one of the two. Only the saints are resigned, and I don't fancy you--" "No, indeed. Very far from it!" He laughed, then sobered quickly. "I suppose I,--sulked! I got the credit for taking it uncommonly well, but that was because I was too proud to fuss. Pity hurt. For my own selfish sake it was easier to bluff it out, and pretend to be hopeful. But inside--I went through a pretty fair imitation of hell in those first few weeks!" In Cassandra's low croon of sympathy sounded all the warmth of her Irish heart; her eyes were liquid with sympathy. "And then? Afterwards... How soon did you--" "Pull myself together? Oh, I dunno! As soon as I--began to pull round, I suppose!" He shrugged his shoulders. "Not much credit in that, was there? I _sulked_, as you put it, so long as everything seemed over, but when I saw I was going to live on, I was obliged to rouse myself to see what could be done. That's natural! The more one has lost, the more important it is to make the most of what remains. I couldn't enjoy my life in the way I intended, but I was determined to enjoy it all the same." "And have you?" "Rather! Look at me now. Having a rattling time. I've never enjoyed things more in my life than during the last few weeks." "Church decorations included!" Cassandra enquired with malice prepense. She wanted to see if he would look self-conscious at what was meant to be a veiled reference to his connection with Teresa, but he looked at her with the frankest of smiles and said: "Yes; didn't you?" and it was she, not he, who suffered from embarrassment.