not raise her eyes further. She was afraid to do so. Her heart seemed to
be beating in her throat.

"It's funny me having to ask for it, isn't it!" she said, suddenly
haggard.




CHAPTER VII: MORTALS


i

Keith did not answer. That was the one certainty she had; and her heart
sank. He did not answer. That meant that really she was nothing to him,
that he neither wanted nor trusted her. And yet she had thought a moment
before--only a moment before--that he was as moved as herself. They had
seemed to be upon the brink of confidences; and now he had drawn back.
Each instant deepened her sense of failure. When Jenny stealthily looked
sideways, Keith sat staring before him, his expression unchanged. She
had failed.

"You don't trust me," she said, with her voice trembling. There was
another silence. Then:

"Don't I?" Keith asked, indifferently. He reached his hand out and
patted hers, even holding it lightly for an instant. "I think I do. You
don't think so?"