Micky sat up with sudden attention. "What do you mean?" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders. "I mean that he isn't really a tangible man," she explained haltingly. Micky laughed. "Oh yes, he is," he said. June caught her breath. "You don't mean--oh, do you mean that you know him?" she asked excitedly. Micky met her eyes with a faintly ironical smile in his own. "Yes, I know him," he answered hardily. "And so do you. My dear, I may be very green, but your careful questioning wouldn't deceive a mouse." "Micky!" said June indignantly. She flushed all over her face, and her queer eyes blazed angrily. She really felt that she had a done a dreadful thing in having allowed him to guess. "You needn't look so upset," Micky said. "You've not told me anything; I knew it long before you did." "When? How--oh, Micky, do tell me!" "There's nothing to tell. Ashton often spoke about her to me. I knew she was at Eldred's, and--well that's all," he added lamely. "All!" said June disappointedly. "But surely you know more than that! What do you think of him? Do you think he really cares for her? Oh, Micky, do you think he's good enough for her?" Micky looked away. "I don't know that it matters very much what I think," he said drily. "She--she loves him apparently, and that's all that counts, I imagine." "Yes, she loves him right enough," June admitted gloomily. "It was quite an accident that she told me his name, of course, and she made me promise not to tell any one, particularly you. I suppose because she knows that you and he were friends." "Possibly, if she does know. I rather doubt if Ashton said much to her about me, though. He used to keep things to himself a good deal." He picked up the menu. "Aren't you going to have anything more to eat? I thought you were hungry." "I'm not now; I'm too excited. Micky, when you saw him in Paris, didn't he say anything, ask you anything? Oh, it all seems so extraordinary!" "My dear girl, what could he ask me?" Micky objected gently. "I never discuss--Miss Shepstone with him, and he is not in the least likely to tell me his private affairs, and I'm sure I don't want to know them." June was silent for a moment. "Esther is laying up trouble for herself," she said then. "Don't you think she is?" "I haven't thought about it," Micky maintained stolidly. "And if you take my advice, you won't either. It never does to meddle with other people's affairs." "But she's my friend," June objected hotly. "And do you mean to say that I have got to stand by and see her ruin her life?" Micky shrugged his shoulders. "She's not married yet," he said laconically. "Have some tipsy cake, will you?" "No--I don't want any more." "Well, I do. Waitress...." It was a deliberate attempt to change the conversation, and June knew it; she sat back in her chair frowning. She supposed Micky would not talk about Ashton because he was his friend; men were so absurdly loyal to one another.