"Thank you, Miss Bentley. May I give you a chair?" he asked. "Thank you, I will sit here by the window." The window was some distance from the fire, but as she sat down Margaret Elizabeth loosened her furs as if she felt its heat. The Candy Man waited, uncertain what course he should pursue. "Please sit down, Mr. Reynolds. I should like to talk to you, now the opportunity has so unexpectedly offered." She regarded him still seriously, her hands clasped within her large muff. "I think you owe me an explanation." "I am not sure I understand." The Candy Man's heart was beating in an absurd and disconcerting way, but he would keep his head and follow her lead. "Of course you are aware that you allowed me to talk to you that morning in the park, in a--most unsuitable manner, without even----" "How could I?" cried the Candy Man entreatingly. "I did not know." "Did not know what?" demanded Miss Bentley sternly, as he hesitated. "I thought perhaps--I was dreadfully lonely, you see, and I thought--it was preposterous--but I hoped you--don't you see?--didn't mind talking to an unknown Candy Man." "Oh! was that it?" exclaimed Margaret Elizabeth in a tone difficult to interpret. Did she think it preposterous, or not? It seemed to indicate she found something preposterous. "Then you were disappointed in me," she added. Never would the Candy Man admit such a thing. He had realised since then what a cad he must have seemed, but---- "That, however, is neither here nor there," she continued, "since I did not recognise you. It was----" "Preposterous?" he suggested. "Yes, preposterous, to suppose that I could. Why, it was nearly dark that afternoon, and I----" "Please don't rub it in. I know. You see I knew you so well." "Me?" cried Margaret Elizabeth. "I had seen you pass, I mean." Again Miss Bentley said "Oh!" adding: "You are also the person who laughed when I made an idiotic remark about lighthouses in the grocery." The Candy Man protested. He had not laughed. "Your eyes laughed. That is how I first discovered my mistake. Your resemblance to Mr. McAllister is remarkable." "So I have been told." The Candy Man shrugged his shoulders, ever so little. "However, to go back, I think you owe me an explanation, Mr. Reynolds, considering how you allowed me to talk to you under a false impression. I am not absolutely lacking in grey matter," she added, while a smile curled her lips, "and I think you owe it to me to tell me why you became a Candy Man." "In return for the Fairy Godmother idea?" he asked mischievously. Miss Bentley's brows drew together. "If you knew how bitterly I have regretted all the foolish things I said that day, you would not laugh," she cried. "Do not say that, please, Miss Bentley. I beg your pardon, and I am not laughing. I could not. If you only knew what it all meant to me. How I----"