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He ascribed it--desired to ascribe it--to her relations with her husband He had naturally learned and divined how matters stood with them; he had learned considerable in the lastof Morti of his position a those whoof Leila, too, he had heard, or rather deduced fro silence, not ht hear and what he ht think of what he heard

He did listen; he did patiently add two and two in the long solitudes of his Louis XV chamber; and if the results were not always four, at least they came within a fraction of the proper answer And this did not alter his policy or weaken his faith in his ratitude to them, and his real and simple friendship for them both He was faithful in friendship once formed, obstinately so, for better or for worse; but he was shrewd enough to ignore opportunities for friendships which he foresaw could do hie toward the te, now, his Delft-coloured eyes furtively, he studied the silk-and-lace swathed figure of the young reat chair, profile turned fro abandon of the attitude contrasted sharply with the groo both the more effective

"Turn in, if you want to," she said, her voice indistinct, smothered by her pink palm "You're to dress in Leroy's quarters"

"I don't want to turn in just yet"

"You said you needed sleep"

"I do But it's not eleven yet"

She slipped into another posture, reaching for a cigarette, and, setting it afire from the match he offered, exhaled a cloud of sh it at him

"Who is she?" she asked in a colourless voice "Tell ? or the Tassel girl?"

"Nobody--yet," he ad over her cigarette "That's good politics, if it's true"

"Am I untruthful?" he asked simply

"I don't know Are you? You're a man"

"Don't talk that way, Leila"

"No, I won't What is it that you and Sylvia Landis have to talk about so continuously every time you meet?"

"She's merely civil to me," he explained

"That's more than she is to a lot of people What do you talk about?"

"I don't know--nothing in particular; mostly about Shotover, and the people there last summer"