"Apparently, you do not consider yourself a subject for congratulation," said Katharine, smiling faintly.
"Oh, you're not like all the others, and I should like to be congratulated by you. You would mean what you said, anyhow."
"I certainly should," exclaimed Katharine.
"How earnestly you said that! It's frightfully nice of you to care so much, though. I was telling Paul what a good sort you were, the other day, and he quite agreed."
"Oh, no, I'm sure it wasn't; he takes a tremendous interest in you; he says you are the cleverest woman he knows, and the pluckiest. He does, really!"
"I have no doubt of it. He has always thought me clever and plucky," said Katharine.
"Well, it's more than he thinks about me, anyhow," said Marion ruefully. "He doesn't think I am good for anything, except to play with."
"And to fall in love with," added Katharine softly.
"Why didn't you come and meet him the other evening?" continued Marion. "He seemed so disappointed. So was I; I wanted you to come, for lots of reasons. I get so bored when I am left alone with him! I like him ever so much better if there is some one else there; and you are the only girl I know who would be safe not to flirt with him. Bobby said, only the other day, that you were much too nice to flirt with. And girls are so mean, sometimes,--aren't they? I was really sorry when you refused."
"If you had told me the real reason for your invitation, instead of the conventional one, I might have made more effort to come," said Katharine.
"You old dear, don't be sarcastic; I never can endure sarcasm. But you will come next time, won't you? Oh, dear, I am forgetting all about your own trouble; what a selfish wretch I am! Are you sure there is nothing I can do for you?"
"Nothing, thanks; at least, nothing I would let you do."
"Sure? Well, let me know if there is. Are you really very gone on him, Kitty?"
"All right, I won't. But I wish you would try a course of boys for a time; it would make you feel so much happier. They're so fresh and harmless."
"Even when they shoot themselves?" said Katharine.
"Oh, that's only Bobby. Must you really go? You old dear, you have done me such a lot of good. What is it, Williams?"
Mr. Wilton was in the library, the man announced, and would be glad to see either Mrs. Keeley or her daughter for a moment, and he would rather not come upstairs, as he was in a hurry. Marion gave a petulant little stamp.