He released her enough to lift up her flushed little face, and bend down and kiss it. "You knew that a long time ago. Kiddie----" It was just then that the call-bell rang. She hurried to her place, her heart beating and her cheeks burning under the rouge. She was nearly sure that she had won--that the wishing ring had given her what she had asked of it. John had not said, "You and I are lovers, and we are going to be married" in so many words--but his voice--and his touch--and his laughing certainty---- She was very happy, so happy that she went through the opera in the state of some one drugged to ecstasy. She sang and danced and laughed, and helped Phyllis whenever she could in her difficult task of assuming a leading part at one day's notice, and felt as if the play had carried her into a veritable fairyland. Tiddy forgot half of his lines, the first time he spoke with her, watching her brilliant eyes and vividness, and she laughed and pulled him through. She was like a flame throughout the performance. Phyllis did wonders, considering the short time she had had in which to prepare, and the performance generally was so good that even the people who were in it were surprised. When it was safely over, and the dance was beginning--the dance was taking place at the Hewitt house--Joy flung herself down for a moment behind the curtains of the little alcove she knew so well by now, and caught her breath. She was hiding a little. She still had a curious reluctance to see Clarence again, and she felt as if she did not want to see John, either, for a little while. Because the next time she saw him she would probably know whether she was right or wrong. She was nearly certain she was right, but there was a little shivering possibility that she might not be. There was always Gail!... "Sorcerette, dear!" said Clarence's voice wooingly in the dim doorway. He had changed back to evening clothes, and looked very handsome, if a little theatrical, for the black was not quite yet off his brows and lashes. He, too, looked excited. "Come out and dance, Joy of my life," he said. "I'm--I'm waiting for John," she stammered. She still did not want to go with him. "John's otherwise engaged," Clarence informed her coolly. "Did you think Gail intended to go without one kind word the whole evening? Not so! Come, or I'll think you mean to be highly impolite." The same reluctance still held Joy's feet, and she did not like the insinuation, but there really seemed no way out. "Cheer up, Sorcerette, dear," he said in her ear, as he swept her away. "'Get happy, chile, ain't you done got me?'" She did not talk. She did not feel like it. She merely danced lightly on with Clarence, letting him say what he pleased. "Do you remember the first time we danced together, Joy, the first time you ever danced with any one? I have always been so glad I was the first man you ever danced with." "Why?" she asked absently. She wanted to get away, to get back to John Hewitt.