diverting indoor or outdoor sport I've ever indulged in--dodging
eruptions. Besides, in standing on this volcano I have the advantage
of also standing near you."

"Didn't I tell you I never wanted to see you again!" she flamed at
him. "How dared you come here?"

"I had to come, dear." His voice was pleading, yet imperturbably
pleasant. "You refused to answer the letters I wrote you begging you
to meet me somewhere to talk things over. I read that Mrs. De Peyster
was sailing to-night, and I knew that you were sailing with her.
Surely you understand, before she went, I had to see my wife."

"I refuse to recognize myself as such!" cried Miss Gardner.

"But, my dear, you married--"

"Yes, after knowing you just two days! Oh, you can be charming and
plausible, but that shows just how foolish a girl can be when she's a
bit tired and lonesome, and then gets a bit of a holiday."

"But, Clara, you really liked me!"

"That was because I didn't know who you were and what you were!"

"But, Clara," he went on easily--he could not help talking easily,
though his tone had the true ring of sincerity. There seemed to be no
bit of aggressive self-assurance about this young gentleman; he seemed
to be just quietly, pleasantly, whimsically, unsubduably his natural
self. "But, Clara, you must remember that it was as sudden with me as