“No. For her. She’s young, Teddy, and she asks so much--so many things that life’ll never give her. She’s got to learn. She may keep you waiting a long, long while yet.” “I’ll wait.” He smiled confidently. She leant forward and kissed him. “I’m glad. If you win, she’ll be worth it.” She went back to playing with Twinkles; he watched her in silence. With her face averted she said: “At first you thought you had only to love and she’d love you in return--wasn’t that it? With you to love her has been a mission; that’s where you’re different from other men. Other men start by flirting--they intend the run-away right up to the last minute; then they find themselves caught But you---- It takes an older woman than Desire to understand. You’re so impetuously in earnest, you almost frighten her. You’re such a dreamer--the way you were about the marriage-box. You always take a woman at her word; and a woman, when she’s loved, means most by the things she leaves unsaid. What happened to the marriage-box after you found me out?” He blushed at the confession. “I burnt it.” “Ah! Burnt me in effigy. That’s what Hal’s done, I expect. That’s where men make mistakes; they’re so impatient. Often a woman’s love begins at the point where a man’s ends. I wonder, one day will you get tired and do something like that to her?” He wanted to ask her whether her love had begun for Hal at the point where his had ended; but he said, “I was a little boy, then.” She took his hands and made him meet her eyes. “Little boys and men are alike. Don’t wait at all, Teddy, unless you know you’re strong enough to wait till she’s ready.” “I am.” “Easily said. A man once told me that. There came a time when I wanted him badly; I turned round to give him all that he had asked; he was gone.” She sank her voice. “Can you go on bearing disappointment without showing anger? Can you go on being generous when she hides her kindness? You may have to see her wasting her affection on all kinds of persons who don’t know its value. She may stop away from you to punish herself--she won’t tell you that; and perhaps all the time she’ll be longing to be with you. That’s the kind of girl Desire is, Teddy; she leaves you to guess all that’s best Can you stand that?” 280 He nodded. He couldn’t trust his voice to answer. “Then, here’s a word of advice. Don’t let her see that you’re too much in earnest.” She laughed, relieving the suspense. “Almost like the wedding-service, wasn’t it?” As he left, the last sight he had of her she was still sitting curled up on the couch, in her pale-blue peignoir, with the sky behind her, playing with the silky ears of Twinkles snuggled asleep in her lap. She, too, was waiting. For whom? For what? That night he wrote a letter to Hal; tore it up and rewrote it. Even then he hesitated. At last he decided to sleep over the wisdom of sending it. CHAPTER XI--THE KEYS TO ARCADY