_Mr. Richards_: “Well, what is it I’ve done? Will you tell me if I guess right?” _Miss Galbraith_, with dignity: “I am in no humor for jesting, Allen. And I can assure you that though I consent to hear what you have to say, or ask, _nothing_ will change my determination. All is over between us.” _Mr. Richards_: “Yes, I understand that, perfectly. I am now asking merely for general information. I do not expect you to relent, and, in fact, I should consider it rather frivolous if you did. No. What I have always admired in your character, Lucy, is a firm, logical consistency; a clearness of mental vision that leaves no side of a subject unsearched; and an unwavering constancy of purpose. You may say that these traits are characteristic of _all_ women; but they are pre-eminently characteristic of you, Lucy.” _Miss Galbraith_ looks askance at him, to make out whether he is in earnest or not; he continues, with a perfectly serious air. “And I know now that if you’re offended with me, it’s for no trivial cause.” She stirs uncomfortably in her chair. “What I have done I can’t imagine, but it must be something monstrous, since it has made life with me appear so impossible that you are ready to fling away your own happiness—for I know you _did_ love me, Lucy—and destroy mine. I will begin with the worst thing I can think of. Was it because I danced so much with Fanny Watervliet?” _Miss Galbraith_, indignantly: “How can you insult me by supposing that I could be jealous of such a perfect little goose as that? No, Allen! Whatever I think of you, I still respect you too much for that.” _Mr. Richards_: “I’m glad to hear that there are yet depths to which you think me incapable of descending, and that Miss Watervliet is one of them. I will now take a little higher ground. Perhaps you think I flirted with Mrs. Dawes. I thought, myself, that the thing might begin to have that appearance, but I give you my word of honor that as soon as the idea occurred to me, I dropped her—rather rudely, too. The trouble was, don’t you know, that I felt so perfectly safe with a _married_ friend of yours. I couldn’t be hanging about you all the time, and I was afraid I might vex you if I went with the other girls; and I didn’t know what to do.” _Miss Galbraith_: “I think you behaved rather silly, giggling so much with her. But”— _Mr. Richards_: “I own it, I know it was silly. But”— _Miss Galbraith_: “It wasn’t that; it wasn’t that!” _Mr. Richards_: “Was it my forgetting to bring you those things from your mother?” _Miss Galbraith_: “No!” _Mr. Richards_: “Was it because I hadn’t given up smoking yet?” _Miss Galbraith_: “You _know_ I never asked you to give up smoking. It was entirely your own proposition.”