Wounded at her sudden change of tone, Alexis sank upon a stool at her feet. Putting his arms about his knees, he stared gloomily into the flames. "What do you want to know?" he inquired sullenly. Anne repressed an impatient sigh. "Tell me about Claire," she said quietly. "Will she be able to leave the hospital soon?" "She seems to be perfectly all right, now, and expects to return home in a few days," he replied. Anne leaned forward tensely. "Shall you be there, Alexis?" she inquired. He looked up into her face with utter surprise. "I? Of course not. I've already taken an apartment on Gramercy Park, and shall probably go away as soon as my affairs are settled." Anne nodded. "Where are you thinking of going?" she murmured conversationally. At her indifferent tone, he shrugged nonchalantly. "Anywhere, nowhere! The South Sea Islands--Russia, perhaps!" Anne nodded again. "A little touch of Bolshevism would be akin at present," she commented drily. He crimsoned. "You think I'm impossible, don't you, Anne?" Encountering his angry, pleading gaze, she laughed uncertainly. "I think you make life impossible for yourself--and others!" He wheeled about and faced the fire with tragic, sullen eyes. "You are right. I'm a curse to myself and everyone else. The sooner I am out of it the better for all." A tug of pain at her heart, Anne leaned forward and laid her hand upon his thick, blonde hair. "My dear, my poor dear," her voice was compassionate and caressing. With a guttural cry, Alexis turned, and flinging himself at Anne's feet, buried his face in her lap. "Don't hate me! If you do, I shall kill myself. Say you won't hate me. Say it!" Tears welled up into Anne's eyes. Taking his face in her hands, she raised it to her own. "My poor Alexis, my poor boy!" "Why, you are crying, you love me!" he exclaimed naïvely. She shook her head. A faint smile traversed her quivering lips. "I don't know. I'm afraid not." Seizing her hands, he showered kisses into the upturned palms. "Anne, Anne, I love you." The tremulous smile still lifting her lips, she pushed him from her, and rose to her feet. "No, Alexis, this won't do. We must pull ourselves together, or you will have to go." He faced her incredulously, as she leaned, pale and enigmatic, against the mantel. "You wouldn't send me away now?" She nodded. "You would ruin our lives for the sake of a convention?" He strode towards her menacingly. But his melodramatic manner had stirred her dormant cynicism. She laughed. "Poor Alexis, don't take it so seriously. We would be utterly miserable together. You know it. Come, let us be content to be friends." She held out her hand, but he backed away angrily.