"No, we're young, there's plenty of time," she answered calmly. "I can work in the meantime and so can he. With his ability and my ability it will only be a matter of a year or two when things will shape themselves to make it possible." Brockton chuckled to himself. "Sounds well--a year off." Irritated at his facetious tone and bantering manner, the girl plainly showed her resentment. Her face flushed, and, throwing down the magazine, she went towards the door of the house. Petulantly she cried: "If I had thought you were going to make fun of me, Will, I wouldn't have talked to you at all." Quickly he made a step forward and intercepted her. "I don't want to make fun of you, but you must realize that after two years it isn't exactly pleasant to be dumped with so little ceremony. Maybe you have never given me any credit for possessing the slightest feeling, but even I can receive shocks from other sources than a break in the market." She stopped and looked at him kindly. Her voice was softened as she said: "It isn't easy for me to do this, Will. You've been awfully kind, awfully considerate, but when I went to you it was just with the understanding that we were to be pals. You reserved the right then to quit me whenever you felt like it, and you gave me the same privilege. Now, if some girl came along who really captivated you in the right way, and you wanted to marry, it would hurt me a little--maybe a lot--but I should never forget that agreement we made, a sort of two weeks' notice clause, like people have in contracts." The broker turned away, visibly moved. Striding up to the edge of the terrace, he stood looking down into the canon. Laura remained where he had left her, looking after him. There followed a long silence, which at length he broke. "I'm not hedging, Laura. If that's the way you want it to be, I'll stand by just exactly what I said." Turning and looking at her, he went on: "But I'm fond of you, a damned sight fonder than I thought I was, now that I find you slipping away; but if this young fellow is on the square----" She approached him and slipped her hand in his. He went on: "If he's on the square, and has youth and ability, and you've been on the square with him, why, all right. Your life hasn't had much in it to help you get a diploma from any celestial college, and if you can start out now and be a good girl, have a good husband, and maybe some day good children, why--I'm not going to stand in the way. Only, I don't want you to make any of those mistakes that you made before."