I did all wrong!"

"Yes. That's the difference."

"You mean it will commend me because I'm
thought rich?"

"No, no," he said, meditatively, "it isn't that.
It's because everybody will be in love with you."

"Quite everybody!" she asked.

"Certainly," he replied. "Anybody who didn't
would be absurd."

"Ah, Joe!" she laughed. "You always were the
nicest boy in the world, my dear!"

At that he turned toward her with a sudden
movement and his lips parted, but not to speak.
She had rested one arm upon the desk, and her
cheek upon her hand; the pen she had picked up,
still absently held in her fingers, touching her lips;
and it was given to him to know that he would
always keep that pen, though he would never
write with it again. The soft lamplight fell across
the lower part of her face, leaving her eyes, which
were lowered thoughtfully, in the shadow of her
hat. The room was blotted out in darkness behind
her. Like the background of an antique portrait,