Under the circumstances, however, there was nothing to do but accept with the best possible grace the situation forced on him; and, though she was watching him closely, the girl saw nothing in his face but ready acquiescence and well-simulated pleasure. Collier breathed a sigh of relief, handed over the seat coupons, and departed hastily, with the assurance that he would be back before the performance was ended. Still giving his clever imitation of one in the throes of unalloyed bliss, Lefty explained to his friends, and then escorted Miss Collier down the aisle, conscious as he passed the eighth row of the concentrated stare of three pair of observing eyes. He did not glance round, however, and he was settled in the third-row aisle seat when the curtain began to rise. Few men can resist a thoroughly charming woman when she sets out deliberately to make herself agreeable. Lefty was not one of the few. Of course, he did not realize that Miss Collier’s manner with him was a bit different from what it might have been with any other man. The girl was much too clever to let him see that. But there are ways _and_ ways, most of them too subtle for the clumsy masculine intellect to grasp, which are part of every woman’s mental equipment. The result of their application in the present instance was the swift transformation of Lefty’s pose of enjoyment into one of reality. It must not be supposed for an instant that Virginia Collier’s manner showed a trace of vulgar coquetry; quite the contrary. Apparently there was no particle of sentimentality in her make-up. She talked mainly of baseball, tennis, motoring, and kindred subjects, in a way which showed that she was more than familiar with her ground; and the contrast between her daintily feminine appearance and her evident liking for almost every sort of sport was very taking――as, no doubt, the young woman fully appreciated. By the end of the first intermission Lefty felt as if they were old friends. Before the third act had commenced he found himself discussing the baseball situation almost as if she had been “one of the fellows.” One did not have to do much explaining. Her grasp on conditions was surprising, her judgment almost flawless. Yet, underneath it all, and ever present as the oft-recurring theme of a symphony, was the lure of feminine personality, stronger, perhaps, for its very subtlety. Lefty felt its pull, but did not realize the nature of the attraction. He told himself that he had never before met anyone quite like Virginia Collier. She was like a good pal, a chum to whom one could talk almost as one talked to another man. She was a good sport in the best sense of the word, and he was vaguely glad that the real-estate man from Boston had appeared when he did.