"I shouldn't care to pick you for a dead one!" Gladys laughed. "You have a way about you, my dear, that is rather chilling when you choose to make it so. You know what we used to call you--The Disconcerter." "That was before I----" she paused. "Now _I'm_ the one who is disconcerted--inwardly at least." "Assuredly it's not outwardly," Gladys declared. "I hope it isn't--but you never can tell when I shall fail to carry it off. I am always thinking--whenever I'm talking to anyone or walking the street--what must be in the other's mind: Amherst and me." "Forget it, Stephanie--forget it!" Gladys exclaimed. "I only wish I could." "_Don't_ think of it." "I don't believe it's possible." "Make it possible." "How?" "By making yourself interested in some one else--and some one else interested in you." Stephanie looked at her friend with an incredulous smile. "The latter ought not to be especially difficult," Gladys went on--"as to the former, it depends upon yourself." "Would you suggest a married man?" Stephanie asked. "Married or single, it makes no difference; though the single man is unattached and easier to make obey orders." "And what of Lorraine?" "Lorraine isn't worth considering--he doesn't count." "I grant you that, but----" "Oh, I know, you're tied by law--but you're free in fact." "Perhaps!" reflected Stephanie. "Moreover, there is no earthly reason why you should let Lorraine interfere with your enjoyment of life," Gladys went on. "I assume that you don't intend to repeat the--other experiment--so why shouldn't you do as you please, so long as that pleasure doesn't transgress the proprieties." "You know I was at the Hospital?" said Stephanie. "Yes--the night of the accident." "And again to-day." "I call it very considerate in you," Gladys declared. "Maybe you don't know that Harry has offered to take me back." "I didn't know it--but I'm not surprised. He always is doing things too late. You're not going back?" Stephanie shook her head. "No--I'm not going back--ever," said she. "Have you told him?" "Yes--before the accident, not since." "He is just silly enough to fancy that his mishap and your visits to the Hospital have changed your decision," Gladys remarked. "Not likely. My visits were very brief and--calm." "The Disconcerter!" Gladys laughed. "I tried to be--distant," Stephanie confessed. "Then you succeeded--I can't imagine anyone presuming after that." "The difficulty is you are not Mr. Lorraine." "To my mind the whole difficulty is Lorraine himself," Gladys declared. "If he were half a man your trouble never would have started. You were about as well fitted for each other as--pardon me--an eagle and a chicken. The only thing surprising is the length of time you hung together. Of course, it's a pity you didn't select some other way out--but I don't know that it's not the natural way, after all. Only----"