“Except me!” cried Rodney bitterly. “You’re my wife, or as good as that, with all yourself pledged to me, yet when you can serve me, merely by a tiny nod when I ask: ‘Cis, shall I buy that stock?’ you are stiff-necked and indifferent; you won’t by the tiny inclination of your head help me upon my feet! Shame, Cicely Adair! It’s not what I call love; it’s not what I counted on in you! I thought you’d die for me, if need were! It’s not the money, not first! You fail me, Cis; you refuse to help me!” “Oh, Rod, oh, Rod!” cried Cis in torture. “You know, you know it’s all false! I--can’t! Oh, I will, I will! Oh, Rod, don’t look like that, not at me; not at Cis! I’ll die for you, I will! I shall be dead if I’m no longer trustworthy, but I’d die for you! Buy the stock. The franchise is decided; it is going through! Oh, Rod, Rod! Oh, what have I done!” “Right, my precious, my darling! Anyone would say you had done right. No one will be the worse for it, and I’ll be far, far better! We’ll be better! Bless you, my Holly girl, my brave, true, loyal Holly girl!” cried Rodney triumphantly. “Don’t call me loyal!” Cis gasped. “And plan so I’ll never profit by that money. Rodney, it is heaven to love you, but, oh, it can be hell to have anyone so necessary to you that everything goes down before the dread of paining him!” Rodney left Cis on the steps of Mrs. Wallace’s house, looking wan and pale, grief and terror in her wide eyes, but he did not pity her. He was sure that she would soon throw off what he considered her morbid exaggeration of her failure to keep her employers’ secret. “Fancy her not telling me! The silly darling!” Rodney thought, striding away, whistling loudly the air with which he serenaded Cis when he passed down her street at night; he was sure that she was still standing within the open door; listening to his receding steps and his merry whistling. “I’ve got her where I want her! Exactly where I I want her! She’d throw over this world, and the next, and everything in them for me! There’s not another like her; all mad love for me, yet crystal-clear in soul! Oh, _soul_! It’s not that; it’s her honesty, her truth, her selflessness! I can’t seem to face fooling her; I guess I’ll have to lay the cards on the table in front of her, before Christmas, too! I don’t want to fool Cis Adair! And there’s not the slightest risk in doing it, not now! Probably there never was. She’s no doddering slave of ignorant prejudice! Besides, I’ve got her where I want her; to-day proved that! Dandy good thing it happened; tested her, gave me pluck to start in square with her, and honesty’s the only policy with Cis, that’s sure! Just where I want her! My splendid girl! It hurt, but she stood pat! Conscience won’t make a coward of brave Cis! And afterward I’ll know how to salve the conscience if it happens to smart a little. After Christmas I’ll be her conscience! Just where I want her, that gorgeous Cis of mine!”