"It has occurred to me that perhaps I ought to ask for them,--demand them, don't you know, the way they do on the stage." Dick said nothing. By keeping his back to his chum he missed sight of a face full of fun and mischief. "Of course I don't want to seem too bumptious, but now I'm engaged to Miss Calthorpe--" He paused as if to give Fairfield an opportunity of speaking; but still Dick remained silent. "Well," observed Jack after a moment, "why the dickens don't you say something? I can't be expected to carry on this conversation all alone." "What do you want me to say?" Fairfield asked, in a tone so solemn that it was no wonder his friend grinned more than ever. "Oh, nothing, if that's the way you take it." "You knew about those letters when I got them," Fairfield went on. "I read them to you before I knew where they came from." "Oh, my dear fellow, hold on. You never read me any but the first one." "At any rate," rejoined Dick, obviously disturbed by this thrust, "I told you about them." "Oh, you did? You told me very little about the second, and nothing about the third. I didn't even know how many you had." Fairfield rose from his seat, thrust his hands into his pockets, and began to pace up and down the room. Jack smoked and watched. "Look here, Jack," Dick said, "we've been fencing round this thing for a week, and it's got to be talked out." "All right; heave ahead, old man." Fairfield stopped in his walk and confronted his friend. "Are you really fond of Miss Calthorpe, Jack?" "Oh, I don't object to her; but of course the marriage is for purely business reasons." "You're not in love with her?" "Not the least in the world, old man," Jack responded cheerfully, blowing a ring of smoke and watching it intently as it sailed toward the ceiling. "But then she doesn't love me, so there's no bother of pretending on either side." The color mounted in Dick's cheeks. "Do you think it's the square thing to marry a young girl like that, and tie her up for life when she doesn't know what she's doing?" "Oh, girls never know what they are doing. How should they know about marriage in any case? The man has to think for both, of course." "But suppose she shouldn't be happy." "Oh, I'll be good to any girl I marry. I'm awfully easy to live with. You ought to know that." "But suppose," Dick urged again, "suppose she--" "Suppose she what?" "Why, suppose she--suppose she--she liked somebody else?" Jack looked shrewdly at Dick's confused face, and burst into a laugh. "I guessed those letters were pretty fair," he burst out, "but they must have been much worse than I even suspected!" "What do you mean?" stammered Dick. "Mean? Oh, nothing,--nothing in the world. By the way, as the matter relates to my _fiancée_, I hope you won't mind my asking if she's written to you since our engagement." "Why--"